Year 2000 problem: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:11, 17 May 2023

Revision as of 08:05, 19 May 2023

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==Fringe group responses==

A variety of fringe groups and individuals such as those within some [[fundamentalist]] religious organizations, [[survivalists]], [[cults]], anti-social movements, [[self-sufficiency]] enthusiasts, [[communes]] and those attracted to [[conspiracy theories]], embraced Y2K as a tool to engender fear and provide a form of evidence for their respective theories. [[End of the world (civilization)|End-of-the-world]] scenarios and [[Apocalypse|apocalyptic]] themes were common in their communication.

Interest in the survivalist movement peaked in 1999 in its second wave for that decade, triggered by Y2K fears. In the time before extensive efforts were made to rewrite computer programming codes to mitigate the possible impacts, some writers such as [[Gary North (economist)|Gary North]], [[Ed Yourdon]], [[James Howard Kunstler]],<ref name="y2k2">{{Cite web |url=http://kunstler.com/mags_y2k.html |title=My Y2K—A Personal Statement |last=Kunstler |first=Jim |year=1999 |publisher=Kunstler, Jim |access-date=12 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927062527/http://kunstler.com/mags_y2k.html |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Ed Yardeni anticipated widespread power outages, food and gasoline shortages, and other emergencies. North and others raised the alarm because they thought Y2K code fixes were not being made quickly enough. While a range of authors responded to this wave of concern, two of the most survival-focused texts to emerge were ''Boston on Y2K'' (1998) by [[Kenneth W. Royce]], and Mike Oehler's ''The Hippy Survival Guide to Y2K''.