Did anyone else notice the quote from a colonel in the January 1999 National Guard Magazine article: "We're going to have inconveniences, but we've got to stop thinking that we can't live without computers..." What on earth was he thinking?! Our whole society runs on computers, and there is NO simple and quick replacement to using them. One of our local newspaper editors made a similar comment, stating in effect that companies have no business depending on computers, and that they should always have an alternate system available. The international economy has forced businesses to be as absolutely efficient as possible, to the penny. Any business that invests the significant money necessary to set up and maintain a non-computer back-up system would soon be forced out of business. This colonel's comment makes me wonder how seriously the National Guard is really taking Y2K.

-- Debra (dgraff@vt.edu), January 26, 1999

Answers

There are MANY people, (like the President of the United States?) who simply do not use a computer in the course of their day to day lives, or in their work. Many of these people have never seen a customer service or billing department, for example, in action. These people don't have that constant reminder in front of them how utterly dependant we are on computers. Yet, they feel that they know what they're talking about.

We (define "we") CAN live without computers, just not as many of us, and not at the "standard of living" at which we have become accustomed. "We" could probably do just fine without computers if there were, say, two billion of "us" instead of six. The problem will be figuring out WHICH two billion...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), January 26, 1999.

It's all about interdependence, of course, and Y2Knewswire today has a very good explanation of interdependence as it relates to the oil industry. The logic transfers.

-- Vic (68rdrunneris@compliant.com), January 26, 1999.

pshannon,

Very well put. I have to hope that the Colonel and the editor meant something similar but just didn't express it as well.

As for. ". . .which two billion?", I think we're very close to the point where the die will be cast, even if it won't be apparent until after the fact.

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), January 26, 1999.

When I first started working, we used manual calculators and check-writing machines. We recorded accounts on cards and wrote transactions in books. No computers. However, most administrative and accounting departments cannot wipe their noses without one.

Debra is correct. In the immediate future, our society (as we know it) cannot function without computers. Personally, I want those computers to work. Despite its warts, I like our computerized society. I would find it ironic that someone on this forum would disagree.

-- Sue (conibear@gateway.net), January 26, 1999.

As an example of how clueless our leaders can be: Does anyone else remember when President Ford (or was it Reagan) went to the grocery store and was mesmerized by the scanner at the check-out? I think at the time they said that the president hadn't been in any grocery store for at least 15 years! Think about it:

They never have to deposit their paycheck or pay their own bills. They never have to deal with insurance claims or try to find a decent in-plan doctor who is taking new patients. Heck, they don't even have to worry about traffic lights working! Our current president has never even owned a home....

I don't expect people like that to have a very realistic view of how we live or how dependent we have become on computers. We must seem like Aliens-from-another-planet to them.

Mom(still frustrated)

-- Mom (kitty@cat.com), January 27, 1999.

The current President of the United States is familiar with computers. The January 1999 Vanity Fair Y2k article revealed that Clinton immediately understood the implications of Y2k when first briefed on them.

One of the news topics in January 1993 was the Clinton team's discovery of how technologically out-of-date the White House was when they moved in. Most of its systems dated from the 1960s (when a younger generation took over from the Eisenhower/Truman/Roosevelt generation), and had not been significantly updated. Naturally, the Boomer generation change also brought in a new technological awareness. Undoubtedly, so will the Gen-X changeover a couple of decades from now.

-- No Spam Please (anon@ymous.com), January 27, 1999.