In about that same timeframe, Y2K is also really good example. Nothing of note really happened. But if people had just ignored it a lot of things probably would have.
Not "probably". I was involved at ground level fixing code for BP in '98. Can say without a doubt that bad things would have happened. And not because my salary depended on it - there was no shortage of opportunities to work on other things, obviously. It was legitimately an issue that would have crippled the energy industry (major players, and all their many, many dependents). I infer from this experience that the impact would have been the same on many other industries (e.g. finance, resource development) directly and indirectly.
But it is a great example. I still run into people who recall Y2K as an example of much ado about nothing. No, no!! It wasn't an issue for you because many people worked hard to prevent the problems.
Those problems were not terribly complex just pervasive and critical, requiring a high LOE. It wasn't like a huge moon-landing engineering problem to be held up as some accomplishment of humanity, more akin fixing a lot of dumb Challenger o-ring problems before a blow-up.
This is a very important case. There was an enormous investment in fixing Y2K, starting long before the day in question (e.g. financial instruments with expiration dates after Y2K had to be fixed before they became due), so on the day there was only a smattering of minor residual bugs.
There were a few jokes about it in the newspapers but by and large the public just ignored it.
I work on climate and hope / hoped that the same would happen, but it's looking like it will soon get everybody's attention regardless.
Y2K would negatively impact companies' bottom lines if not dealt with, directly, in a short and known timeline, in predictable ways.
Climate change will impact companies in different ways at different times. Oil companies, for instance, are incentivized to ramp up production as much as possible while also diversifying.
The way to get all companies to take appropriate actions is to not allow them to externalize costs. That means a significant carbon tax.
I'm sure I'm not the only one that can't wait for the 2038 problem to get closer. bank accounts gonna be jumping like a 3-peat Micheal Jordan when those consultation fee checks start rolling in.. provided the Boston Dynamics dogs haven't taken over yet
Since you "work on climate" I am sure it got your attention that there is a massive effort happening all across the board. R&D has made tremendous advances, whole industries are investing to get away from fossil fuels, and governments have ongoing programs to accelerate and support lange hydro, solar, and wind projects.
Some countries have not heard the call yet it seems (ones that like their role as perpetual victims and blame everyone else but themselves), but even just five years down the road, the world will already look very different for all the effort that's being made.
In strategic sysadmin and cybersecurity this is staple thinking, and a
useful part of what I teach now.
Problem for vigilant thinkers is the rewards, as explained in TFA,
are perverse.
People are content with technology to be magical. They don't see the
millions of people quietly repairing it and planning to keep it all
going smoothly.
To "bosses" cybersecurity only bring them problems, and cost them
money apparently doing nothing. The same for any defence force, until
you need it.
Did some nice interviews for international sysadmin day last summer
[1].
I didn't worry. Even took a trip to a different country. Though I can totally understand why some people (know you're joking) might have played it more conservatively.
Yeah. I've heard folk who should know better (looking at you, John C. Dvorak) call Y2K a nothingburger and suggest the effort to prevent problems was a total boondoggle.
Disclaimer: I was part of that effort. The funny thing was that I was brought back to a previous client to fix something that my previous efforts had literally caused. Took me 20 minutes to fix it once I saw what the problem was. And then there was a "while you're here, can you take a look at this ..." That lasted about two years until they closed the department and moved it to NY, NY.
"we were all worried about the ozone and nothing happened, this is just a repeat and people will stop talking about it any time now"
and my response is "'Nothing' happened because the governments acted fast and turned it around so now it's mostly just boring stuff like catching some factoryy that decides to go cheap and use banned chemicals to save a buck"
