Recently I have been thinking about the approach of the third millennium and all the hype surrounding it's approach. In the late 1990's more and more was being said and written about the approaching millennium. I'm sure that in back rooms discussion of the upcoming millennium occurred well before the late 90's.
Some of the issues reported seemed very practical. The computer issue was obvious. Computers had been inadequately programmed to show dates. So if changes weren't made a whole host of problems would occur with incorrect dates. When it came to legal, business, government and historical issues the possible effects were enormous. Frantic efforts were made to update the computer system to handle the 2000's in dates. Stories on this issue were common and they always emphasized the doubt about the success of changing computer programs. It made for good story telling. Stories abounded about a total computer collapse. So there was tremendous fear mongering.
Well, the millennium came and surprise, surprise the world of computers did not end. Nor did the world end.
Aside from the computer issue there were many other wild stories about the coming of the millennium. The end of the worlders added their two cents worth. There were various groups who had reasons to predict that the end of the world would come. Many other religious groups had discussions as it related to their faith.
When you think about it it seems like the millennium issue happened only recently. Twelve years have passed since that momentous change from one millennium to another. Slowly the issue has left our minds and it seems like a distant dream. I'm sure someday we will look back and ask what all the fuss was about.
