[riversoma]

Bummer. I was so happy when Y2k didn't happen.

I felt like I had a made a fool of myself but I didn't care. I was trying to take care of the people I loved. I put up with some teasing in Jan.2000 but I was fine with that.

Now, its the same shiat all over again. I learned my lesson though. I won't be trying to wake anybody up. I'll just be promoting backyard chicken raising and other sustainable choices.

In a way Y2K was like a fire drill.

[Dvanharn]

There was no evidence the TWAWKI would end civilization in a crash of technology and infrastructure failures due to computer problems, and being in the computer field, I saw no reason to panic.

There were a number of systems - software and hardware - that had been implemented in the 1960's using just enough of the limited memory space in those days for 2-digit years. However, hard work by computer professionals took care of this widespread, but correctable problem.

I was on the Y2K computer team for the Pacific Stock Exchange in San Francisco for a year leading up 1/1/2000. My contract expired 12/31/1999, but they set up a sumptuous breakfast buffet on for the regular and contract staff on New Years Day, and I didn't celebrate the previous evening with champagne. My contract would be renewed on the spot if there were problems. With the incredibly complex systems at the exchange, we expected some minor problems, but tests of those systems showed that everything worked fine, and any issues were extremely minor and inconsequential. The same thing happened with systems around the world.

The free breakfast was great.

Peak oil is different - there is evidence, not just speculation like Y2K - that a huge problem is approaching.

Dave

[RonMN]

No matter if it happened or not...Y2K had the "POTENTIAL" of being an all out disaster! (i have been in the 'puter field for 20+ years now) Luckily we dodged a bullet! But as i was preparring for it i was kicking myself, thinking: "this could be any kind of disaster...a tornado...a hurricane...an earth-quake...or yellowstone super-volcano blowing up" you FOOL! why haven't you ever given any thought to preparring!

Never did i think of peak oil...i had never even heard of such a concept, but i have to say...at the time of Y2K i was thinking how i'll never get caught with my pants down again.

Well, here we are & while i'm not caught with my pants down...they are certainly unbuttoned. I didn't expect anything that would last "forever".

All you can do is the best/most you can do!!!

and remember...if Y2k was "no big deal" then why did 17 people receive medals from the military for re-programming the nukes "on time"???

[MicroHydro]

I never worried about Y2K at all.

On the other hand, I have been deeply worried about peak oil all my life. My mentor, Prof. James Bonner at Caltech (with colleagues Harrison Brown and James Weir) was worried about peak oil when they wrote "The Next Hundred Years" in 1957 : "We must conclude, then, that although the age of fossil fuels has barely begun, we can already see its end"

In 1957, the Caltech group advocated population control and a transition away from fossil fuels to take place by the 1970s. This was to mitigate the effects of US peak oil. Because the scientists understood the grim implications of an unplanned and uncontrolled powerdown. But, we pissed away 48 years of advance notice and there are no good scenarios left, only bad, worse, and worst.

[Dvanharn]

I didn't mean to imply that Y2K was not a threat, but rather to suggest that the problem was recognized well in advance by computer professionals and academics, and solved via very hard work and a lot of money. The corporate heads did not want to spend the money, but realized in time that the solutions must be applied, and got it done.

Peakoil, OTOH, is a problem that is recognized by engineers and academics, and many other intelligent and informed people. However, it is not really a solvable problem in the same manner as Y2K. With Y2K, the problems were fixed and life went on as usual. This will not happen with peakoil.

Also, in spite of the last minute (couple of years??) effort to fix Y2K problems, some doomers were still convinced that airplanes would fall out of the sky and our technological civilization and economies would grind to a halt. With peakoil, many commercial planes will slowly fail to get into the air rather than falling out of the sky, and economies will have serious problems, perhaps even the catastrophic faliure that the Y2K doomers predicted for their issue.

Dave

[riversoma]

Needless to say there are vast differences between Y2K and Peak Oil - or what I prefer to call Peak Population. However, preparing for Y2k has made me much more able to even think about Peak issues.

Y2k made me look at the infrastructure and our planet's resources in a whole new way. Peak is, in many ways, easier to prepare for. I learned a lot from Y2k in terms of trying to talk to others. I know better now. Nobody wants to hear that the sky is falling. I won't be running around telling people to move to the country. I'll just be building a place for them to come to.

[Pops]

Come on River, you must want to say something to someone, otherwise why post?

The Backyard Chicken thread is waaaaiting!



Peak oil IS the Y2k bug - but this time the hackers have no idea how to fix it.

[riversoma]

[quote="Pops"]Come on River, you must want to say something to someone, otherwise why post?

The Backyard Chicken thread is waaaaiting!

I thought I did say something! Is there already a backyard chicken thread or should I hurry up and start one? Most of my community outreach is happening right here in my own backyard. I am just being much more subtle about it than I was in Y2k. I just keep giving people fresh eggs and talk a lot about how easy chickens are to care for. I will also be starting a chicken coop contest through a green building organization I am founding. So I am a very busy Peaker.

[fossil_fuel]

Y2K fix = replacing a few lines of code

Peak Oil fix = replacing a few BILLION barrels of oil

which is the bigger problem?

i think the answer should be obvious. yet the average person and the media got way more worked up over y2k. why?

[Pablo2079]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')I'll just be building a place for them to come to.

[ubercrap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('fossil_fuel', '
')
i think the answer should be obvious. yet the average person and the media got way more worked up over y2k. why?

[I_Like_Plants]

Y2K was a theoretical, IF when this date comes, THEN these programs will choke. THEN all these systems will shut down. What headed that off was, millions of humans everywhere, a portion of which knew programming or could be taught, who all went to work at once and fixed all the code they could, they were well motivated to, they were well paid!

They fixed enough of it, nothing crashed, or at least almost nothing did, and in fact on New Year's night everyone was on their best behavior, and there was less hooliganism than there is on an average night.

In 2003 according to the DMV I bought a brand spankin' new 1903 automobile. All that's left of Y2K is a few things like that to laugh about. Looking back, it's pretty comical.

Peak Oil is different though, we have HARD DATA showing Hubbert is right, and we can't hire a bunch of geeks to program more oil into existance. I don't tend to think we're going to have a sudden crash, more the kind of long slowdown the Roman Empire had. Then again, a nuclear attack tends to be rather sudden, and likewise the crash of the 1930s came on kind of quickish too.