IP: re Y2K and the Apocalypse

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 10:39:51 -0800
To: farber () cis upenn edu
From: George Dyson <gdyson () cc wwu edu>

an unsolicited (and unpublished) opinion:

Letters, TIME Magazine
14 January, 1999

RE: Y2K and the Apocalypse

I'm a pessimist at heart. But Y2K doomsayers have it wrong. The Y2K problem
may be a sign of the Apocalypse--but *not* because it signals a global
information system collapse. On the contrary, Y2K (like rebooting a
sluggish computer, or defragmenting a clogged-up disk) will give our
collective hill-climbing exercise a healthy shake. Many processes that have
become stuck in local maxima will suddenly move to higher ground. The
demise of the machines? Far from it! It's us ordinary mortals--saints and
sinners alike--who will be inhabiting the valleys left behind. 

George Dyson (author of Darwin Among the Machines)
Bellingham, WA
Daytime telephone: 360-734-9226


-- 
George B. Dyson                                      gdyson () cc wwu edu
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