It has occurred to me that there seems to be a pervasive opinion among "those that know", that any day now the masses will get it and all hell will break loose, hence the desire to leverage the assumed time remaining until zero hour (whenever that is). Is it possible that it will not play out that way? It seems as if the masses will continue business as usual until something dramatic happens. I mean a full fledged news special report that such and such occurred today. I mention this only to assuage my own bewilderment as to what the masses are waiting for. Answer: for something to happen. What a relief, that means to those that have more will be given and to those who don't have, what they do have will be taken away!!

-- David Butts (dciinc@aol.com), May 25, 1999

Answers

The average person equates Y2k with the nuclear war that was imminent for 50 years & never happened, & with the apocalypse that's been imminent for two thousand years & never happened. IOW, the average person thinks Y2k will eventually go away, just like various other threatening events that scared a lot of people but never finally materialized.

So I have to agree with you -- until something happens, threats & warnings will simply be disregarded by the masses (which includes almost everyone around me, whose current response to Y2k is a shrug).

-- look (noah@its.raining), May 25, 1999.

DAVID: I certainly cannot prove any of this, but in my judgment there is now almost universal "awareness" of Y2K. Last year at this time, awareness was the exception not the rule. The one determinant, the one inescapable fact that surrounds the entire Y2K issue is the uncertainty over what specifically is likely to occur because of it. Uncertainty then, is the ball on which each of us should keep our respective eye...

Using myself as an example, as late as November of 1998, I was only in the early stages of awareness. It soon became apparent that uncertainty (mine as well!)was the hallmark of Y2K. I am now about 95% complete with my plans. I submit, that while it is certainly reasonable to conclude that some of us GI before others, and that this is typical human behavior within groups, it is not reasonable to conclude that somehow the distribution of people to the "right" of you and I, along the GI/1999 time line, are unlikely of eventually arriving at the same conclusion as did you and I. Their growing and unresolved uncertainty mandates that they will indeed eventually embrace "the need to prepare."

They may choose more modest or more comprehensive preparations than you or I, but I submit their uncertainty will unfailingly translate into action before 01/01/99.

I do agree that an "event" is possible that would radically impact a slowly rising upward curve toward the "100% actively preparing" level. Short of a stock market crash I cannot imagine what that might be however.

In my judgment the preparedness curve slowly rises. It will continue to do so, at an ever-increasing rate.

Plan accordingly......

-- Dave Walden (wprop@concentric.net), May 25, 1999.

Exactly, Dave.

Preparations for Y2K are probably on a logarithmic curve with a very low power exponent. But as with all exponents, get ready for when that line suddenly turns the corner and shoots up!

-- DMH (not@just.yet), May 25, 1999.

Mr. Dave Walden,

Dave, I swear to God that is what denial means. People in denial our denying the undeniable. And that is the plethora of information that abounds everywhere. Our society has lived hand to mouth for years, working in jobs where they no they could be laid off at any time, living with wifes and husbands that they know could leave them at any time. Having kids that make pipe bombs in the garage. People in denial don't take action until their lives our MANIFESTLY affected, so for us that means we have got all the time in the world to prepare. What a Joke!!! Regards, David Butts

-- David Butts (dciinc@aol.com), May 25, 1999.

Hey Dave Butts...are you the former Washington Redskins player?

-- Dina McCullough (DinaM11@aol.com), May 25, 1999.