Zachary Loeb

And by the time the public really starts to pay much more attention to this, the irony is those working in IT, those on the government side, are already pretty confident that the problem is being handled. They are less concerned by the point that the public starts having its freak out to the extent that that happens.

I'm not sure there really was panic. I think that there were lots of media outlets that were really, really eager to report on the end of the world because reporting on the end of the world is big and flashy and exciting. And in 1997, there's this cover story in Newsweek magazine that's like, the day the world crashes. And it has like a computer monitor crashing through the magazine cover.

I'm not sure there really was panic. I think that there were lots of media outlets that were really, really eager to report on the end of the world because reporting on the end of the world is big and flashy and exciting. And in 1997, there's this cover story in Newsweek magazine that's like, the day the world crashes. And it has like a computer monitor crashing through the magazine cover.

I'm not sure there really was panic. I think that there were lots of media outlets that were really, really eager to report on the end of the world because reporting on the end of the world is big and flashy and exciting. And in 1997, there's this cover story in Newsweek magazine that's like, the day the world crashes. And it has like a computer monitor crashing through the magazine cover.

And that's like big and exciting. And within a lot of that media coverage, once the public starts paying more attention, there's all of this effort to find the people who think the world is ending and to kind of elevate these people who are saying it's the end of days, it's the end of time, buy a shotgun and head for the hinterlands. It's making people buy water, buy generators.

And that's like big and exciting. And within a lot of that media coverage, once the public starts paying more attention, there's all of this effort to find the people who think the world is ending and to kind of elevate these people who are saying it's the end of days, it's the end of time, buy a shotgun and head for the hinterlands. It's making people buy water, buy generators.

And that's like big and exciting. And within a lot of that media coverage, once the public starts paying more attention, there's all of this effort to find the people who think the world is ending and to kind of elevate these people who are saying it's the end of days, it's the end of time, buy a shotgun and head for the hinterlands. It's making people buy water, buy generators.

You know, they're stocking up.

You know, they're stocking up.

You know, they're stocking up.

I don't know that it's necessarily going to be a computer problem. I think it's going to be a social and people problem.

I don't know that it's necessarily going to be a computer problem. I think it's going to be a social and people problem.

I don't know that it's necessarily going to be a computer problem. I think it's going to be a social and people problem.

Because, look, it's fun to imagine society collapsing in a way that it isn't fun to imagine a bunch of IT workers dutifully doing their jobs and repairing code. 60 Minutes did a good long piece on Y2K.

Because, look, it's fun to imagine society collapsing in a way that it isn't fun to imagine a bunch of IT workers dutifully doing their jobs and repairing code. 60 Minutes did a good long piece on Y2K.

Because, look, it's fun to imagine society collapsing in a way that it isn't fun to imagine a bunch of IT workers dutifully doing their jobs and repairing code. 60 Minutes did a good long piece on Y2K.

And it's easy to look at that and be like, oh yeah. Listen to these strange people who are preparing for the end of the world and then forget that in the next clip there was some government official being like, no, we're taking care of this. Don't worry.

And it's easy to look at that and be like, oh yeah. Listen to these strange people who are preparing for the end of the world and then forget that in the next clip there was some government official being like, no, we're taking care of this. Don't worry.

And it's easy to look at that and be like, oh yeah. Listen to these strange people who are preparing for the end of the world and then forget that in the next clip there was some government official being like, no, we're taking care of this. Don't worry.

The Simpsons 1999 Halloween episode, their treehouse of horror, they had a segment called Life's a Glitch in which Homer Simpson was responsible for doing the Y2K maintenance at the Springfield nuclear power reactor and he fails to do it. That's Homer Simpson's computer.