1 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Still get in touch with technology with text stuff from 2 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: com Hey everyone, and welcome to text stuff. I'm I'm sorry, 3 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 1: there's a little bug in my throat Jonathan Strickland and 4 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren focal Bomb. You know, I've just been having 5 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: trouble all the day, Lauren. It just feels like something 6 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,639 Speaker 1: very basic and the very code of me is just 7 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: not right. And now everything's just diligion all over the blade, 8 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: almost as though there's there's some kind of a programming 9 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: error or not error but over sight. Yeah, like like 10 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: someone to cut short and now things aren't working. Also 11 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 1: building up to something terrifying. Yeah, it's gonna build up 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 1: to a NonStop replay of Prince over and over again, 13 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: which it starts out awesome, but as it goes on, 14 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: let me tell you that gets old. Okay, we're talking 15 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: about a Y two K bug obviously, people, Yes, yes, 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: that is what our episode is about. To day, all 17 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: of our fans who hate it. Whenever I do cheesy humor, 18 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: I apologize, You don't really apologize. It is who I am. 19 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 1: So the reason why we're talking about Y two K 20 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: bug years after the whole issue happened is because you know, 21 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: we ask you guys what you want to hear. And 22 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: in this case, a listener named James sent us a 23 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: message on Twitter and said, hey, guys, you should do 24 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: an episode on the Y two K Bug. Heart heart James. Well, James, 25 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: we heart heart you two. Now we're going to do 26 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: our episode on the Y two K Bug. It's a 27 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,680 Speaker 1: pretty interesting story because it's one of those things where, 28 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: you know, it really illustrates a few basic things about 29 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: computing and human nature in general. One of those things 30 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: is that when something new is created, no one who 31 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: is around has any idea of how long it's gonna last, 32 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: and they don't have any any appreciation of things that 33 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: they do then lasting into well into the future, right, well, 34 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,040 Speaker 1: especially things like computer programming. I mean, no one in 35 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: say the nineteen sixties or seventies was expecting any of 36 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: the programs that they were writing to last for forty years. Yeah, 37 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: computers were developing very quickly, and the general thought was that, 38 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: you know, this is changing so fast that programming is 39 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: going to change in at a crazy speed too. But 40 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: as it turns out, while the hardware changed, the practices 41 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: that were established early on remained pretty much standard, and 42 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,679 Speaker 1: also a lot of this old programming would find its 43 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: way into subsequent generations of software. So even if it 44 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: wasn't something that people were continuing to do later on, uh, 45 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: there'd still be these old fragments of code incorporated into 46 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,080 Speaker 1: stuff that did have it. Now we're kind of dancing 47 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: around what that old thing was. Oh, oh, the old thing, 48 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:49,959 Speaker 1: of course being I just got really excited that I 49 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: knew the answer to this um being the digits in 50 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: the year. Yeah, So here was the issue back in 51 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: the fifties and six these when programmers were having to 52 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: put a code in for the year, which is important 53 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: for certain types of calculations, right, anything that's time based, obviously, 54 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: you need to have a way of recording the time 55 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: so that you can compare times from different points and 56 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: draw your calculations based on that. You know, for for 57 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: for example, when people have been depositing paychecks or right, 58 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: so if you if you have a bank account that 59 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: has interest, for example, time is obviously a factor there. 60 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: It's not just the amount of money that you've been 61 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: continuously putting into or taking out of that bank account. 62 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: It's also the amount of times since you established that 63 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: bank account. And there's some complicated calculations that are very 64 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: time sensitive, so you have to have that kind of 65 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: stuff built into your algorithm, right right, Or in other cases, 66 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: you know, records of dates of birth or dates of 67 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: medical surgery or all kinds of things. Yeah, so many 68 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: different applications, to the point where there were even technologies 69 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: that you wouldn't imagine would ever need to know what 70 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: year it is that had the stuff built into it. 71 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: And here's the problem when you have two digits for 72 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: your year. See the computer programming getting started in the 73 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties, they figured, hey, we've got 74 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: practically half a century before we have to worry about 75 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: two digits turning into zero zero. Clearly we're gonna totally 76 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: fix this later. And computer memory right now is incredibly expensive, 77 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: so let's let's let's be really conservative and just use 78 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: two digits for the year, and we'll be fine until 79 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: these other problems work themselves out. Oh and and I 80 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: mean computer memory was so precious and saving especially across 81 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: the course of for example, an entire spreadsheet full of 82 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: interest calculations, saving two digits per year was big. So 83 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: so just by doing a month, month, day, day, year, year, 84 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,200 Speaker 1: you know, just just the two digits each, you could 85 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 1: save a huge time and hassle for yourself at the 86 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,720 Speaker 1: at that current moment, right right, because I mean, you know, 87 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: think about just a few years ago how expensive it 88 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: was to buy say a terrabyte for a hard drive, 89 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: compared to today. Now it's much more affordable. Oh well, 90 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: you know, as as opposed to when I was a kid, 91 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: when a tearabyte was and a completely unimaginable amount of information. Yeah, 92 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: when I was a kid, I couldn't imagine ever filling 93 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: up a megabyte of space. So you know, as time 94 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,279 Speaker 1: has gone on, memory has become less and less of 95 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: a problem in the sense that we were able to 96 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:20,920 Speaker 1: make more of it more affordably. But back then very 97 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: expensive and precious stuff that you only had so much 98 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: to work with, and it was expensive to use. So 99 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: cutting it down to two digits made sense of the time. 100 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 1: But the problem was that when you roll over from 101 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 1: nineteen nine to two thousand, in the computer terms, it 102 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,640 Speaker 1: goes from n to zero zero, which meant that people 103 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: weren't really sure what was going to happen. Right, Would 104 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:44,720 Speaker 1: the computer think that it was all of a sudden 105 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: would that completely bark all of your calculations for for example, 106 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: interest rates, yeah, or the the age of a person. 107 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 1: So your example, if it's figuring out the age by 108 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 1: subtracting the current date from your date of birth, or 109 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:00,839 Speaker 1: the date of birth from the current data, I should say, so, 110 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: let's say it's ninety nine and you were born in ninety. 111 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: Then that's pretty easy. It's years old. Okay, got it. 112 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: But then let's say it goes zero zero and you 113 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 1: were born in ninety, so it's zero zero minus ninety. Suddenly, 114 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: like oh um am, I getting negative numbers because now 115 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 1: a negative age that doesn't make sense. And so you 116 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: can have all sorts of computer problems, ranging from the 117 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 1: financial industry to health to all pretty much everything that 118 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: had any sort of code in it that included the year, 119 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: which extends to things like like elevators that had microchips. Yes, yeah, elevators. 120 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: I mean that's pretty that that was a real concern. 121 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: People are like, I do not want to be in 122 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:44,280 Speaker 1: an elevator on New Year's Eve because you don't know 123 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:45,839 Speaker 1: if that thing is going to make it to the floor. 124 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,919 Speaker 1: You want by two, right, And I mean, and of course, 125 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: you know, they weren't afraid that the elevator was going 126 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: to slow down to a rate, to a negative motion 127 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:56,840 Speaker 1: rate or anything like that. But they were afraid that 128 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,279 Speaker 1: the code and the microchip crashing would I don't know, 129 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: cause a fire and make the elevator drop or just 130 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,479 Speaker 1: or just stop or just stop entirely, and refused to open. 131 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: People had a lot of just uncertainty about exactly what 132 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: was going to happen to code and whether or not 133 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: it was going to crash an entire system. When this 134 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: this year changed, over right, and so this this fear 135 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: started to kind of rear its head in the ninety nineties. Uh, 136 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: it really reached a fever pitch in nine. That was 137 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: when I think the general public became really aware of it. 138 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: Before that due to media complete over saturation. Yeah, yeah, 139 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: I got a little, a little crazy, a lot crazy, 140 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: depending upon where you lived in the United States, it 141 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: certainly became crazy. So you had you had the computer 142 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: scientists who were and programmers who were saying earlier than this, like, hey, guys, 143 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: maybe we should should fix this. This is you know, 144 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: this is a problem, and instead of perpetuating it across 145 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: multiple industries at infinitum, maybe we should address it. And 146 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: that way just establish a new rule going forward. Now, 147 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: computer memory not such a big deal, Now, why don't 148 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: we Why don't we fix it before we get Hello? So, anyway, 149 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: is this thing on? Hello? And the problem was that 150 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: a lot of people didn't listen until it started getting 151 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: closer to two thousand, and people began to really worry 152 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: about the possibility that this could bring about, if not 153 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: some sort of technological armageddon, at least a lot of 154 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: glitches and problems that could have been avoided. So then 155 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: they had to say, well, what are we going to 156 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: do about it? The obvious solution was also the most 157 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,120 Speaker 1: time consuming and expensive one, which was the manually go 158 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: through and start updating code and changing it so that 159 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: it's a four digit year instead of a two digit 160 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: year and uh and then thus increasing the usefulness till 161 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: at least nine thou right, Yeah, I mean, I mean, 162 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:49,559 Speaker 1: you know, the alternate there's to recode just so that 163 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 1: programs would recognize that zero zero probably meant two thousand 164 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: instead of nineteen hundred. But that's a less effective solution. 165 00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: And b I mean, you just need to change it 166 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: over at the next and of the century, not that 167 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: probably those same programs were going to be in use, 168 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:05,960 Speaker 1: but you never know. The thing is that, you know, 169 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: you have these legacy systems that certain companies rely on 170 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 1: that were originally programmed, you know, thirty forty years ago, 171 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: and you know they continue to rely on them because 172 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: they do exactly what the company needs them to do, 173 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,960 Speaker 1: right and Okay, so so either way, these changes might 174 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: have to be entered by hand thousands of times or 175 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of times in a single program um, 176 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 1: and each change then has to be tested against errors. 177 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: Of course, eventually code was developed to help automate the process, 178 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: but you know, I mean it was just a big undertaking. Yeah. 179 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: You might remember if you watch the documentary Office Space 180 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,679 Speaker 1: that the characters at in a tech the company and 181 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 1: office space where they that was their job. They went 182 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: into other companies and helped update their code to meet 183 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: the y two K issue, which kind of raises another question, 184 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: which is what was this company going to do after 185 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 1: or the year two thousand. But at any rate, that 186 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: was actually a very real concern. I mean, The Spaces 187 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 1: is a great parody of all of that kind of sure, 188 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 1: but but there was a concern that you know, with 189 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: with all of these extra programming jobs that were going 190 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: to be created, that that businesses would crash and burn, 191 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: and some of them did. I mean, most of them 192 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:20,719 Speaker 1: just moved on to other things and found freedom and 193 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:23,680 Speaker 1: not having to do this incredibly tedious work anymore. Right, 194 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 1: And then there was a lot of other crashing and 195 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,440 Speaker 1: burning in the tech industry for unrelated reasons. Yes, that 196 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: was the whole dot com bubble burst, but it didn't 197 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: have anything to do with Y two K directly. So, uh, 198 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,560 Speaker 1: here's the other problem is that a lot of these 199 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: programs didn't recognize even if even if two thousand was 200 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 1: going to be fine, even if they could recognize the 201 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:43,319 Speaker 1: fact that was two thousand was a four digit year, 202 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: they didn't necessarily recognize that two thousand was going to 203 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: be a leap year. Right, And here's the reason why. 204 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:53,440 Speaker 1: So leap years actually follow an algorithm, a set of rules. Obviously, 205 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: so the the basic rule is that for every four years, 206 00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: you added an extra day, a leap day, at the 207 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: end of February to balance out the calendar year with 208 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: the solar year. Because the solar year is close to 209 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: three hundred sixty five point to five days, not quite 210 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: point to five, almost point to five, which is important. Yeah, 211 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,959 Speaker 1: so if you stretch out over an incredibly long time 212 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: for us humans, let's say a few centuries, your calendars 213 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: will start to become misaligned because it's not quite three 214 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: hundred sixty five point to five days in the solar year. 215 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: So that means that occasionally you have to ignore the 216 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: leap year. And the way the rule goes is that 217 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: if the let's see if I can get this right, 218 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:38,160 Speaker 1: if the century is divisible by one hundred but not 219 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:41,520 Speaker 1: by four hundred, it would not be a leap year. 220 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 1: So if it's divisible by both one hundred and four hundred, 221 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 1: it's a leap year. So, in other words, sevent hundred, 222 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, and nineteen hundred were not leap years. Was 223 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:55,199 Speaker 1: because sixteen hundred is divisible by four hundred. Two thousand 224 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,599 Speaker 1: also divisible by four hundred, so it should be a 225 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: leap here. However, because you gut just have zero zero 226 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 1: as the digits, if the computer thinks it's nineteen hundred, 227 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: the computers also knows the rule that nine is not 228 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,680 Speaker 1: a leap year, so so it says, hey, this, this 229 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,959 Speaker 1: big zero kind of number is totally not a leap year, right, 230 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: So it's only three days not three hundred, you know, 231 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: three and we we don't have a fevery twenty nine 232 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 1: this year, is what I would say. But there was 233 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: totally a fevery twenty nine here, which meant that other 234 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: calculations would get thrown off because it wouldn't take that 235 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:31,439 Speaker 1: leap day into account. So all these calendar applications weren't 236 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: also had to be corrected. So suddenly people were like, 237 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: oh boy, this is a big old mess here. We've 238 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: got to fix this and uh and so, so a 239 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 1: lot of time and effort and attention was directed to this. 240 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:45,679 Speaker 1: And there was a third problem as well. Wasn't there 241 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 1: having to do with all of the nines? Oh yeah, 242 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: Oh I totally forgot about that. I'm glad you brought 243 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: that up. Yes, So, okay, in the old days, children 244 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:56,960 Speaker 1: gather around this, gather around the digital fireplace, you know, 245 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: if Netflix still has that digital fireplace, ahead and start 246 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:04,359 Speaker 1: started up back in the old days, children Sometimes programmers, 247 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: in order to designate the end of a program, would 248 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 1: just type out a string of nines. It was essentially 249 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 1: just the code to say this is where stuff ends, y'all. 250 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:18,839 Speaker 1: Uh so had a date in Exeptember nine that if 251 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:21,680 Speaker 1: you were to write it would be like n a 252 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:25,400 Speaker 1: lot of nines. And the worry was that certain programs 253 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 1: which would see that as meaning this is where stuff 254 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 1: stops and would stop working. So you had a lot 255 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,080 Speaker 1: of digit problems here. So some of this you could 256 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:40,320 Speaker 1: count on, you know, just a a kind of a 257 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: jerry rigged system of this is how I'm going to 258 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: designate this is the end of a program, and it 259 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: was just kind of arbitrarily chosen that would be stuff. 260 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:51,520 Speaker 1: Some of it was more of a practical consideration, the 261 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: idea of we need to save time and money, so 262 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,680 Speaker 1: therefore we're shortening this year to two digits. In either case, 263 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: it ended up meaning lots and lots of for people 264 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:04,680 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen nineties, and um, you got a 265 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,839 Speaker 1: lot of attention. I mean there were there were things 266 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: like uh, industries that were already taking advantage of the 267 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: time in the nineties to address this. The software industry 268 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: was way ahead of the game. Oh yeah, yeah, I 269 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 1: mean back by you know, I think six uh, a 270 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: few people were on top of it. Certainly by a 271 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:26,080 Speaker 1: lot of people had already kind of corrected the problem, right, 272 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 1: So the software that was being produced from that point 273 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: going forward had already addressed it. Now. Granted there was 274 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: still software that was out previously that had this old 275 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 1: code in it, but the new code coming out of 276 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: the software industry had had adjusted for this kind of problem. 277 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: But there were other industries that were lagging behind. And 278 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 1: in fact, according to one study, UH, the cap Jimini 279 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: America consulting firm did a study. They found that the 280 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: state and federal government systems were the furthest behind. And 281 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: when you think of all the information that state governments 282 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,680 Speaker 1: and federal government here in the United States requires to 283 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: operate things like taxes that are dependent upon infrastructure. Infrastructure, yeah, 284 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:12,800 Speaker 1: your water systems, all sorts of stuff that rely on 285 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: computer systems that are run by satellites, all all of 286 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: the stuff, communications, everything. I mean, there's entire industries that 287 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: are dependent either completely or in part on state and 288 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 1: federal systems. All of those were at risk because they 289 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: were the firths behind. They had the least amount of 290 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 1: progress on addressing the Y two K problem. UH. Such 291 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 1: a huge deal that the president at the time was 292 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:43,359 Speaker 1: Bill Clinton, assigned the two thousand Information and Readiness Disclosure 293 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: Act into law, and that was designed to create a 294 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:51,280 Speaker 1: collaborative environment among multiple industries, so that is one industry 295 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 1: developed the best practices and tools to address the Y 296 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,760 Speaker 1: two K problem. It would be there was an incentive 297 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,560 Speaker 1: to share the information across other industries so that we 298 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: didn't It's not a competition, it's it's hey, let's all 299 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:05,880 Speaker 1: get this done together, kind of issuing like I would 300 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:08,920 Speaker 1: like my stuff to continue not being on fire. How 301 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: about I give this information to you guys, and maybe 302 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 1: that will decrease the chance that my stuff will be 303 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: on fire. In two thousand and that was a that 304 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: was a big motivator. As it turns out, helped a lot. Uh, 305 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 1: there were other areas of the world that we're also 306 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: being very responsive to this. European Commission issued a report 307 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 1: about Y two K to the European Union member countries 308 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: that all kind of got them on the same page. 309 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,480 Speaker 1: The British government announced that the British military would be 310 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: on hand to assist local police forces in the event 311 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: of emergency services breaking down as a result of the 312 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,400 Speaker 1: Y two K problem. And there there was so much hype. 313 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, yeah, well, we'll talk more about 314 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:49,280 Speaker 1: hype in a second. The United Nations held a conference 315 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: on it. They were trying to facilitate more sharing of information, 316 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: particularly but you know, that's that's cool, that's that's not hype, 317 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: that's preparedness, right. Well, they were particularly worried about a 318 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: lot of regions in Asia that were there were at 319 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: least thought of to be behind the curve on this 320 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,359 Speaker 1: on addressing the HIT two K problem, So they wanted 321 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:10,680 Speaker 1: to make sure that everyone in the world had an 322 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: equal chance of catching up so that they could minimize 323 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:16,280 Speaker 1: any effects that the Y two K problem would have. 324 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: Not keep in mind, this is still at a time 325 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: where no one was really sure what was going to happen, 326 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: at least not on a global scale. There were some 327 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: people were saying like, well, you know, this system over 328 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: here is probably gonna be okay because it's not really critical, 329 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,640 Speaker 1: and even even if it were, you know, it would 330 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,080 Speaker 1: just be something that we could adjust by writing a 331 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:35,680 Speaker 1: couple of extra lines of code to correct that problem 332 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 1: other systems. People are like, I don't know if that 333 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,120 Speaker 1: airplane will stay in the air. I mean, that wasn't 334 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: legitimate fear some people, I don't know, Okay, maybe fear 335 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 1: that people people absolutely and and you know, on a 336 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:51,679 Speaker 1: on a person to person basis. The amount of panic varied, 337 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:54,679 Speaker 1: um and problem they were depending on how much media 338 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,119 Speaker 1: they had consumed about it, and excitable they were to 339 00:17:58,160 --> 00:17:59,919 Speaker 1: begin with. I want to say towards the end of night, 340 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: a lot of the media coverage lent leaned more towards 341 00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:08,719 Speaker 1: the satirical and the the kind of jokey up, world's 342 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: gonna end next month kind of stuff, less less of 343 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: the actual fearmongering style, and more of the no one's 344 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 1: really sure, but you know, the worst case scenario could 345 00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:20,720 Speaker 1: be that kind of thing. So it wasn't at least 346 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,879 Speaker 1: as as bad as you know, next month, everything you 347 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: know will be different because nothing's going to work, and 348 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 1: you know, start building your bomb shelter now. Um. You know, 349 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:32,440 Speaker 1: there weren't a whole lot of serious reports that were 350 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: coming out like that, and I'm sure the Onion had 351 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:37,719 Speaker 1: a lot of fun with it. Um. But anyway, so 352 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: we're leading up to what actually happened from the switch 353 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: over to two thousand and I know you're all dying 354 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: to know how it turned out, but you're just gonna 355 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:48,920 Speaker 1: have to wait a second because we need to take 356 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 1: a quick break to thank our sponsor. Alright, So we're 357 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,920 Speaker 1: back now the clock is ticking down. I know you've 358 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:00,480 Speaker 1: been waiting, waiting all episode to learn what would happen 359 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: about to turn to two thousand? What half? Okay, so 360 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: technically we're all still here, so I guess we can 361 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,320 Speaker 1: draw some conclusions right off the bat. And and and 362 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:09,680 Speaker 1: I mean, this event is in our relatively recent past. 363 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 1: It was really years ago, and most of you guys 364 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: are probably remembering this, some of you and some of 365 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: some of you folks who are in maybe middle school 366 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 1: or whatever, maybe this is all new to you, in 367 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: which case, hey, welcome to the ridiculous panics that the 368 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 1: rest of the world went through before you were born. 369 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: Your parents were silly. Yeah. So, as it turns out, 370 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,680 Speaker 1: a lot of the work that was being done leading 371 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:35,440 Speaker 1: up to two thousand was successful. I mean, and it 372 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,280 Speaker 1: was a lot of work. It was. Uh. One estimate 373 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: said that globally the world spent about three hundred billion 374 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,399 Speaker 1: dollars that's billion with a B to address the Y 375 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,600 Speaker 1: two K problem, and about just a little less than 376 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: half of that was spent in the United States alone 377 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:58,040 Speaker 1: to address this issue. And that ranged from everything from 378 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,879 Speaker 1: wide computer networks to like we were saying, microprocessors that 379 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 1: control things like microwaves, and you know, really in that case, 380 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: it was more of testing it to see, you know, 381 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,439 Speaker 1: if you were to to digitally alter the clock of 382 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:13,959 Speaker 1: the machine, would it continue to operate properly? That kind 383 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 1: of stuff, right, And and in the most most cases 384 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,080 Speaker 1: things things were absolutely fine. And and people people kind 385 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 1: of knew that, I mean know that there was a 386 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: little bit of this media frenzy, but um but a 387 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:31,400 Speaker 1: p Poles indicated that Americans expected minor problems at worst, um, 388 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: but that some thirty percent had planned stockpiles just in case. Yeah, yeah, 389 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: that the food money, that kind of that was. Yeah, 390 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,399 Speaker 1: they weren't necessarily creating an armed militia, although there was 391 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:43,639 Speaker 1: some of that going on too at the time. Um, 392 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:45,440 Speaker 1: but you know, it's it's one of those things where 393 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,440 Speaker 1: I think a lot of people were jokingly saying, like, yeah, 394 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: I mean, everything's gonna be fine, nothing's gonna be a problem. 395 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:53,359 Speaker 1: But then like, you know, but just in case, I 396 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:56,480 Speaker 1: think I'm gonna take it easy this year, uh or 397 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,920 Speaker 1: just that day specifically that yeah, New Year's Eve to 398 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: two thousand, to make sure that you know, let's let's 399 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: not let's not put ourselves in danger unnecessarily, but nothing's 400 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: going to happen, you know. Cautious optimism is probably how 401 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,760 Speaker 1: I would describe it. Yeah, and basically, none of those 402 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:16,199 Speaker 1: big doomsayer kind of things, the worldwide power failures, the 403 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: total breakdown of transportation infrastructure, that planes falling out of 404 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,160 Speaker 1: the sky, none, none of that. None of that happened. Now, 405 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 1: to be fair, one reason a lot of that may 406 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: not have happened is because so much work was done 407 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:29,720 Speaker 1: addressing the problem. Right, I still don't think that every 408 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,399 Speaker 1: computer in the world would have simultaneously caught on fire 409 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:35,600 Speaker 1: and started eating your face. No, that's the likelihood of 410 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,879 Speaker 1: that was very low, pretty low. I mean, some other 411 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:40,200 Speaker 1: spooky stuff would have had to have been going, but 412 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: that we're talking some paranormal activity stuff at that point. 413 00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:46,359 Speaker 1: But no, I think you know, here's here's the problem 414 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,840 Speaker 1: with assessing how Y two K worked out, because a 415 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:51,240 Speaker 1: lot of people said, oh, it was a lot of 416 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: worry over nothing, nothing really big happened. But part of 417 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:56,720 Speaker 1: that was because so much work had been done to 418 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 1: address the issue on a on a code level, to 419 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 1: make sure that the code in some very critical systems 420 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 1: was updated to not have this problem. So you could 421 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: argue that the reason why there wasn't a problem was 422 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,000 Speaker 1: because we caused such a fuss in the first place. 423 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 1: It's also possible that if we had never done anything 424 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: and someone in two thousand said, hey, guys, I just 425 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 1: thought of something that we probably should have thought about before. 426 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:23,199 Speaker 1: That everything's fine now, but you know what could have 427 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,679 Speaker 1: happened was blah blah blah. Sure that might have happened 428 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 1: to yeah, yeah, like this is that's what really happened. 429 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,359 Speaker 1: But here's what could have happened. That's kind of the 430 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:33,919 Speaker 1: opposite of the clue endings. But yes, um, yeah, so 431 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,640 Speaker 1: the the you know, it's hard, it's impossible to say 432 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,160 Speaker 1: in hindsight, right, how it would have turned out differently 433 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:41,920 Speaker 1: had nothing happened. I imagine that we would have seen 434 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: a lot of other glitches and systems that would have 435 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,479 Speaker 1: been time consuming to fix. And we did see some glitches, right, 436 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 1: It wasn't like everything went off without a hitch, right, Well, okay, 437 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,879 Speaker 1: most of the glitches were kind of preemptive. Some some 438 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: large chemical plants and oil pipelines were shut down preemptively 439 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,919 Speaker 1: during the transition and rebooted. UM service was suspended on 440 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:04,640 Speaker 1: like major freight railroads and Amtrak on New Year's Eve 441 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:09,760 Speaker 1: for for a final round of equipment and signal checks. Um. Yeah, uh, 442 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,920 Speaker 1: you know, the workload on programmers over the past couple 443 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,359 Speaker 1: of years had had been increased like twenty to sixty 444 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,879 Speaker 1: percent in order to solve the problems. So that was 445 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 1: an effect anyway. Uh yeah, I mean there there were 446 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: you know, some of the some of the problems that 447 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:31,160 Speaker 1: came up were very comical in nature. Yeah, there were, 448 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: I mean, okay, there were legitimate, like a few hundred 449 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 1: reports of errors amongst small businesses, but needs most most 450 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:39,920 Speaker 1: of them were resolved in a matter of hours after 451 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: they had been reported. Um. There was the temporary shutdown 452 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: of a Defense Department ground station that that processed info 453 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,919 Speaker 1: from a from a satellite from a spy satellite. Um. 454 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:54,160 Speaker 1: But it didn't have any major consequences. There were there 455 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: were a couple of really good ones. Um for Okay. 456 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:58,960 Speaker 1: So so this was when uh Al Gore was the 457 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: vice president. My favorite of the ye two K problems, 458 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:04,760 Speaker 1: by the way, Um, for for a minute, his town 459 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:09,880 Speaker 1: hall web page informed visitors that it was January three, uh, 460 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:14,400 Speaker 1: nineteen thousand, one hundred if they arrived via Netscape and 461 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 1: January three, nineteen thousand eight D. I'm sorry if they 462 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,800 Speaker 1: were coming in via Futurama. We know that by that 463 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,680 Speaker 1: time Al Gore's head is in a jar. So maybe 464 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 1: it was accurate. It could be. It could have been 465 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: like this was a glimpse into the Futurama future. Um um, 466 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 1: there was a there was a glitch in the New 467 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: York Times. Oh I love this one, dude, No, this 468 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: one's my favorite. I retract by earlier statement, this one's 469 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: my favorite. They can both be your favorite. Um okay. So, 470 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: so there was a telephone service that would read an 471 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,400 Speaker 1: automated selection of the New York Times and other newspapers 472 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:54,120 Speaker 1: to um New Yorkers with with vision problems and um. 473 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:57,520 Speaker 1: It informed clients that they would be hearing the January three, 474 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 1: nine hundred issues. So where we started recording, I said, 475 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: I could just mention the top headline, dirigible races reach 476 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 1: inevitable draw for the year running. I think I want, 477 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 1: I kind of want that alternate history right where you. 478 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: What would have been amazing is if it had actually 479 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: read the headlines from January three, dred at that point. Now, 480 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:18,440 Speaker 1: that's not exactly that's not what happened. It just had 481 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,120 Speaker 1: the date wrong. On the date part. The actual content 482 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: was the same was the one for January third, two thousand. 483 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: It's not like the computer glitched and went and looked 484 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: up some microfiche and brought it back and read it out. 485 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:33,439 Speaker 1: I wish that had happened though. That would have been 486 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:35,680 Speaker 1: so awesome. That would have been delightful. UM. I mean, 487 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,919 Speaker 1: like other stuff, UH that there was some some legal 488 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 1: battles that arose over all of this. Xerox, Nike, Unitis, 489 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 1: and a whole bunch of other companies were a few 490 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: major other companies. UM uh sued their insurers for reimbursement 491 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,200 Speaker 1: for having to have spent hundreds of millions of dollars 492 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: on these repairs. UM, citing language from nineteenth century business 493 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 1: contracts wherein insurers had to repay ship owners for money 494 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 1: spent trying to prevent ship from sinking. Yeah. Interesting sighting 495 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,240 Speaker 1: of a precedent. Yeah, that didn't work out so well. UM. 496 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: The suits generally generally settled on on the side of 497 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:15,919 Speaker 1: the insurance companies because I think arguing that because nothing 498 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: bad happened, then we shouldn't have been forced to prevent 499 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:22,040 Speaker 1: something bad from happening is a weird argument, because if 500 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: nothing bad happened, that's possibly proof that the thing you 501 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,920 Speaker 1: had to do worked oh well. And even I mean 502 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,159 Speaker 1: even if you if you spend that money preventing a 503 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 1: ship from sinking or preventing a computer from crashing. Um. 504 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,360 Speaker 1: You know, in this particular case, the companies had seen 505 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: the ship sinking several years before they actually informed the 506 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: insurance company that it was an issue. And so in 507 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: that case, the courts were like, you knew about this beforehand. 508 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: This interesting, this is stuff that you had to take 509 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:52,640 Speaker 1: care of. And um, I see there were some other 510 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:56,640 Speaker 1: like practical outcomes that were you know, just the way 511 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: people had reacted to Y two K and started stockpiling stuff. 512 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,280 Speaker 1: That meant that once the new year happened and society 513 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:05,919 Speaker 1: did not crumble, a lot a lot of people returned 514 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:08,880 Speaker 1: to space heaters, um, like so many that that SEARS 515 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:14,240 Speaker 1: started incurring a not incurring but um, but charging stocking 516 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 1: fee because people so many people were worried that the 517 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:20,360 Speaker 1: infrastructure would be gone and that they wouldn't have gas 518 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: or electricity, you know, and then they once once that 519 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: those problems went away, like once two thousand came around 520 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:29,160 Speaker 1: and everything was fine. Then they're well, I don't really 521 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: need this anymore. Uh, charity groups collected a lot of 522 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,399 Speaker 1: extra cand goods that year. Uh. Not so many people 523 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:39,480 Speaker 1: traveled by airplane on New Year's Day that year, right, 524 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: I mean not that many people travel on New Year's 525 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: Day to begin with, but even yeah, there were some 526 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 1: of those people who were worried about the whole airplane 527 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,440 Speaker 1: dropping out of the sky thing. And here's the thing 528 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: is that while this hite two K problem sounds like 529 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: it's like, well, yeah, sure it happened once, bill, never 530 00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: happen again. Alright, Alright, so there there are a bunch there. 531 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:04,959 Speaker 1: There are like many, much multiple other problems, like like 532 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: the y t K problem. They're all time dependent and 533 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: they're all code dependent. However, the the year in which 534 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: each one would hit its big old problem is different 535 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: from one example to another, mostly because engineers have a 536 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,240 Speaker 1: wicked sense of humor. Well I'm not sure, okay, So 537 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:27,400 Speaker 1: so I don't I don't code. I'm not a programmer. 538 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,680 Speaker 1: I I've never used any kind of back end sort 539 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: of thing. I know how to make things bold and 540 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 1: h ham l on my own, but that's that's about it. Um, 541 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: but so so apparently in various programs, UM, the beginning 542 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,640 Speaker 1: of time starts on various dates. Yeah, the beginning of 543 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: time tends to be the date that whatever was created 544 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:50,640 Speaker 1: was put into action, although not all of all the time. So, 545 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: and it can depend on the numeracle system that the 546 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 1: coding is using. UM. I know, for for IBM PCs, 547 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 1: the beginning of time is January one, up and uh, 548 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: it go the time itself goes up in seconds. So 549 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: the second is the base integer for this whole thing, UM. 550 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: And it's a thirty two bit integer. So that means 551 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: that if you if you do the math and you're thinking, okay, 552 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: it's a thirty two bit integer. Each second is another increment, 553 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: So every second that passes goes up another one. If 554 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 1: you're limited to thirty two bits and you're starting days 555 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,320 Speaker 1: January one, nineteen eighty, you can extend that out and 556 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: you see that in two thousand one sixteen you have 557 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,960 Speaker 1: hit the limit of of the integers you have. You 558 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: are no longer able to go up without rolling over. 559 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,520 Speaker 1: It's kind of like those old alright, gather around that 560 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,520 Speaker 1: digital fireplace, children, and the old days we had digital 561 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:44,720 Speaker 1: uh like pinball machines, and once you hit a high 562 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: score at a certain level, it would turn over, meaning 563 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,920 Speaker 1: it would go back to I actually did that on 564 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: the Star Trek one. I'll tell you about some time. Anyway, 565 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,520 Speaker 1: I was, yeah, I had seventeen free replays by the 566 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:58,720 Speaker 1: end of that. I ended up leaving because I couldn't 567 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:00,680 Speaker 1: keep playing all day. I was in knowledge at the time, 568 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: money will spent, Mom and Dad. Anyway, two thousand, one 569 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 1: h and sixteen is when those integers will reach the limit, 570 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,920 Speaker 1: meaning that, uh don't know what's going to happen after that. 571 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,840 Speaker 1: It's not gonna be able to make these these time 572 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:17,960 Speaker 1: dependent calculations accurately anymore, because it won't be able to 573 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,040 Speaker 1: track time in a in a way that makes sense 574 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: to the computer anymore. So you would think, oh, well, clearly, 575 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,000 Speaker 1: all right, so we've got the Y two K problem 576 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: and the two thousand, one hundred sixteen problem with IBM PCs, 577 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:33,479 Speaker 1: but after that we're okay, right, well uh well, so 578 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,640 Speaker 1: so Windows NT sets the beginning of time as January 579 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: one s one. So apparently they were thinking, like, okay, 580 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: Shakespeare would totally use Windows INT just before, you know, 581 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 1: shortly before he dies. So clearly he would have written, 582 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: you know, some of his greatest plays using a machine 583 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 1: using Windows NT. So let's start the I have no 584 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: idea why they chose January. Yeah, and okay, so, so 585 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,320 Speaker 1: it uses a sixty four bit integer to track time, 586 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: so way more integers than you know, twice as much 587 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: as the thirty two bit intager that IBMPC did, and 588 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 1: furthermore uses a hundred nanoseconds as its increment. So so 589 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: it's problem is a ye, right, So it's here's the thing. 590 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: It covers a much greater span of time, right because 591 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: it starts in sixteen o one and it won't end 592 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: until four so that's later. But because of that hundred 593 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,800 Speaker 1: nano second problem, that eats up those innagers pretty quickly. 594 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: If it had done it as a second intager, it 595 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:39,040 Speaker 1: would extend much further out. But hey, good good news 596 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:43,120 Speaker 1: for Apple users. According to Apple, um mac is okay 597 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:49,280 Speaker 1: out to the year. Uh yeah, um so, I mean 598 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 1: not that it matters, because you're gonna update all your 599 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: stuff every year anyway, you Apple fanboys, I'm saying that 600 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: I'll love. I'm not entirely positive that you are. Really. 601 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,080 Speaker 1: My wife has a iPhone I I love her. I've 602 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 1: got a Mac. I mean, I'm granted my Mac. It's 603 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:08,680 Speaker 1: like eight years old at this point. It might actually 604 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,600 Speaker 1: be an Apple computer non a Mac. They might have devolved, 605 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 1: but anyway, Yes, at any rate, all of these problems 606 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:17,160 Speaker 1: are going to be a little bit easier to fix 607 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:20,440 Speaker 1: than the Y two K problem, right, And and it's 608 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,120 Speaker 1: one of those things where the Y two K problem 609 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: that was something that was so UH grounded in the 610 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:31,000 Speaker 1: very basic code that so many different UH systems were using. 611 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: That's probably the scope of it was enormous, right, And 612 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: we didn't have the tools available than that we do 613 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: today for for going in and addressing propagating things. Only that, 614 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: but we've got a greater time scale for all of 615 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 1: these problems. It's not something that's you know, five years away. 616 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: Although we can't just have the attitude of oh, well 617 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:52,520 Speaker 1: that's you know, that's like twenty more years. We don't 618 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:55,200 Speaker 1: need to worry about that. No, we should definitely take 619 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:57,800 Speaker 1: the steps to address these issues. So, yes, it is 620 00:32:57,840 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: one of those things where we see it over and 621 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: over again. Does it mean that we are done? That 622 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,040 Speaker 1: no one is ever going to make this kind of mistake? 623 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: Just for the sake of convenience or or efficiency or economics. Uh, 624 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: we're never gonna make old mistake. No, we're human. We 625 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 1: make mistakes. That's kind of kind of thing. They're they're 626 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 1: warm and fuzzy. It's us. Yeah, well you know we're 627 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 1: good at that and making mistakes. I am great. I'm 628 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: like I learned from my mistakes. I can repeat them 629 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:32,480 Speaker 1: almost exactly. So um, yeah, it's something that will price 630 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 1: see also pop up, and of course those people will 631 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,640 Speaker 1: eventually be ridiculed like do don't you remember why t K? 632 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,840 Speaker 1: And uh, you know, we'll just we'll relive this drama 633 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,960 Speaker 1: multiple times. But hey, some of these are problems that 634 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,720 Speaker 1: are so far in the future that it's our descendants 635 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:48,760 Speaker 1: that are gonna be worried about them unless we find 636 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: some digital immortality or something. Yeah. See there you go say, 637 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 1: I think that what all of this is not taking 638 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:55,240 Speaker 1: into consideration is that we are clearly going to hit 639 00:33:55,280 --> 00:34:01,520 Speaker 1: the singularity in yes, well you know, uh, we're getting 640 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,800 Speaker 1: We're rapidly approaching what Kurtswil said would be the singularity. 641 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: And I'm a little skeptical right now, but hey, it 642 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:09,640 Speaker 1: could be proven wrong. But you know, when we see 643 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 1: problems like this rise up. It does make you wonder 644 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:15,399 Speaker 1: about that singularity and think maybe that maybe that would 645 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,760 Speaker 1: only be really super awesome for a very relatively short 646 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 1: time until our code ran out. Oh yeah, exciting stuff, right, 647 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,920 Speaker 1: all right, Well, the interesting thing is we would all 648 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:29,439 Speaker 1: end together. That's kind of sweet and really nihilistic way. 649 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,439 Speaker 1: I think I've got an idea of our science fiction novel. 650 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:35,000 Speaker 1: Don't steal it. Okay, So we're gonna wrap up. Guys. 651 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,840 Speaker 1: If you have any suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, 652 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:41,719 Speaker 1: here is how you can let us know about them. 653 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,239 Speaker 1: You can take one of two routes. On your left 654 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,520 Speaker 1: is email, and in order to take this route, you 655 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,759 Speaker 1: need to type in tech stuff at Discovery dot com. 656 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:55,120 Speaker 1: In the two fields on your right is social media, 657 00:34:55,360 --> 00:35:00,480 Speaker 1: and that splits into three pathways that would be Twitter, Facebook, 658 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,600 Speaker 1: and Tumblr. All three of those doorways are labeled tech 659 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:08,279 Speaker 1: Stuff hs W four. That is the handle we use. So, hey, 660 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 1: get in touch with us. I've had a long day 661 00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 1: and I'm about to go to see s so I'm 662 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: a little loopy. Al Right, guys, that wraps up this discussion. 663 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:19,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with us. We will talk to you 664 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:25,279 Speaker 1: again really soon. For more on this and thousands of 665 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: other topics. Does it, how staff works dot com