Preface: that posting below was NOT from me. If I get hold of that jerk, he is going to resemble a punching bag.

Here's my problem:

I have a girlfriend. She is extremely intelligent (I'll be very surprised if she gets an HSC mark less than 99, which is top 1%), very beautiful, a wonderful person who I care about immensely. She is funny, sexy, affluent and ambitious. She is also a complete, total and utter DGI.

She's seen the stuff I've written on y2k. She likes it. She calls it great sales material and thinks I'll make a whole load of money from it if I can get backing. She calls it very convincing ad copy.

She does not take it seriously.

This is a girl with an IQ somewhere in the 140s, possibly even higher. This is someone who can argue -despite it being 3am and her having had so many drinks that she finds it hard to walk- coherently and effectively about theoretical physics. Effectively enough to beat a very intelligent friend of mine who *doesn't* drink.

She does not think that I am writing drivel. She knows that I am too intelligent to waste my time on trash. And she even believes that there'll be a massive economic crash in 1999. She expects a lot of y2k-induced panic and she even expects bank runs.

But she does NOT think y2k is going to be anything enormous. I've talked about it with her. She says "that's a great sales pitch, Leo", and changes the subject.

She is a kind, generous person. She has the unfortunate delusion -and this is despite the fact that she is also one of the most intelligent people I know- that most people are like her; generous and intelligent. Like Diane, really. But she thinks that power will not completely fail, that there may be short outages but not for more than a few minutes and not over large areas. She does not expect it to be any more than a 1 or 2 on the scale.

I am very, very, VERY concerned that she might incur some danger. And if my company hasn't made enough $ to buy me a good retreat and a "corridor" out to it from wherever a good party is, then she is going to be in *very* serious danger (and thus so will I, because I am not going to leave her to a situation like that.)

Anyone got any ideas/suggestions? Surely this kind of thing has come up before?

--Leo

-- Leo (notthistime@troll.com), December 17, 1998

Answers

Leo,

We're less than three weeks away from the first Y2K failures that should make the news. It might be easier than you think.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), December 17, 1998.

Keep trying but in a LOW KEY way. My bride who is a "sorta-got-it- but" actually sat with me for a bit and ran through the forum the other night, including a couple answers. She is slowly progressing from a visceral 1-2 and a conscious 7-8 to a visceral 5-6. The other thing to do is be very flexible in your planning. Do NOT assume too much, but definitely have a place for her in your plans, just not a mission critical role. (cuts down on the embarassment!)

Chuck (who proposed by saying "If I had to go, would you go with me?" a VERY long time ago)

-- Chuck a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), December 17, 1998.

Give her 50 lbs of rice, 25 lbs of beans and maybe a 20 gauge for Christmas. Forget jewlery this year. These are the presents that say "I love you". My boys are getting a solar powered SW radio, hand powered flashlights and sleeping bags for Christmas. You can't convince anyone, they have to discover.

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), December 17, 1998.

http://www.y2ktimebomb.com/Tip/Lord/lord9842.htm

"How to Deal with Y2K Non-Believers"

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), December 17, 1998.

Leo, Why do you need to convince her? If she's as intelligent as you say she is, then you have to respect her point of view. There are many intelligent people out there who don't believe y2k will bring the greater depression. I believe that the new century will bring chaos only because it has since the birth of Christ not because of some computer glitch. You need to show her evidence not the sales pitch. If she's intelligent, then she's seeing past the hype and waiting for the proof that you have not provided, yet.

Maria

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), December 17, 1998.

Leo, my fine friend, you also need to keep the awareness that your life and decisions are yours and her life and decisions are hers. You must do what you think is right and without pushing her, she will either get on the boat or drown. It's not your responsibility.

Until recently, I had a nice intelligent girlfriend also. We even shared the same birthday. In the early summer when I "discovered" the depth of Y2K and "got it" I tried sharing my findings with her. She wasn't having any part of it. I shared with my family members and they all immediately "got it" and we realized that we needed to take action to prepare. Girlfriend thought we were a bunch of nutjobs and moved out of our apartment. She gave me the opportunity first to ignore the whole thing, but I wasn't gonna do that. Trade my life away? For what? I think ex-girlfriend will be in danger, and she has been warned and given everything she needs to inform herself. But she doesn't wanna get it. It's no longer my responsiblity.

You must be prepared to do the same thing. Good luck...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), December 17, 1998.

What Leo means is that she's intelligent, but in denial. As in "no no no that can't be true! I refuse to believe it, and if I don't prepare it's not going to happen!"

Even intelligent people do that. He's obviously concerned for her well being. Denial of this kind is a gut reflex,a defense mechanism. It's part of the 5 stages grieving process of Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance. In this case, Bargaining is represented as rationalizations/arguements/pleading.

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), December 17, 1998.

Leo,

I think Chuck, Bill, and Chris have given all the right info - if you love her (and man isn't THAT a big 'if'?) start preparing for her as well as for yourself, remain low key, and realize that we all have to go through this process one step at a time. BTW: moving two people in in a combat/conflict situation isn't *twice* as difficult as moving one person, it's an order of magnitude more difficult! just suggesting that you might want to be in place prior to, and not believe that you could reasonably expect a safe corridor to exist on the night of, as it were.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), December 17, 1998.

I have a girlfriend. She is extremely intelligent (I'll be very surprised if she gets an HSC mark less than 99, which is top 1%), very beautiful, a wonderful person who I care about immensely. She is funny, sexy, affluent and ambitious. She is also a complete, total and utter DGI.

Wow! Never mind count your blessings! Work on it.

-- Richard Dale (rdale@figroup.co.uk), December 17, 1998.

Try the latest issue of the Scientific American, or their web site, for Peter de Jager's article.

-- Karen Cook (browsercat@hotmail.com), December 17, 1998.

Leo,

Teach her how to surf the internet, show her the major Y2K links and let her figure it out. If not now, then show her when the first waves in 1999 hit and she starts to get it and asks questions. Be kind.

BTW, I think it's going to be a "5," or at least we could all make it one. It is not by any stretch of the imagination trivial. Any intelligent person who does their homework will "get it." IF the majority of people DO NOT start preparing between Feb to April next year then the chances of it being worse increase greatly. The internet may well make the difference for us all.

Good luck. Her life is also her choice.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 17, 1998.

Richard, thanks for the compliment. I have a definite interest in keeping her alive thru 2000; not only is she one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen, but she is also one of the most intelligent people I know. Most attractive girls are shallow boneheads. I'm very, very lucky.

Diane, she knows how to surf the internet. I've even shown her Yardeni's site. She nods and says that while Yardeni makes a lot of sense, people will still behave themselves. She cited the same example you did, the SF quake of 1994 when everyone was nice and co-operative. She's actually a lot like you in that regard, except that she doesn't feel any special community-building is needed.

A five -this being the Edwards scale, I assume, of 1-10?- is what I hope for. Major economic collapse that makes 1929 look like that token drop a few days ago, limited violence, maybe a few million die of starvation or disease.

She expects a 2 at worst.

What I currently plan to do is prepare for her. If I'm in Australia when TSHTF (and even if my business works, then I'd rather be here than in the US simply because of the lack of armed thugs down under) then we'd of course be at the same place we'll be this year and I was last year, Milson's Point (the north end of the Harbour Bridge). I'm going to arrange to have a motorboat available nearby -there's a set of moorings about five hundred metres from the north pylons, and a wharf at MP itself that she could board from- and take her out onto the harbour. If she insists, it'd then be reasonably safe (the harbour would be crowded as hell with boats, but there'd also be Water Police) to watch the sun rise between the Heads. We then get the hell out, meet up with whatever vehicle I've obtained, and get her to my shelter (which could require some driving. I want to get somewhere inland, OFF the east coast.) I think that by dawn, with news of chaos coming in off all the intact radio stations, she'd have the sense not to resist.

That's my working plan for now, assuming she remains a total DGI and I don't get a vastly-superior shelter in the US, as may happen if I fail to sell a particularly choice piece of turf. (In which case it suddenly becomes a whole order of magnitude harder).

If that screws up somehow and she insists on remaining in the city, I would not leave her. If I did and she was killed or raped (and she is very, very desirable..), then I would not be able to live with myself. If something disastrous happens, I suppose I could possibly be in the extremely ironic situation of having sold millions of dollars worth of non-urban shelters and long-lasting food but am personally in an urban disaster with NO food.

--Leo

-- Leo (leo_champion@hotmail.com), December 17, 1998.