Ten years later – Federal Government dealing with another doomsday
When I was last in the federal government (1997-1999), I was detailed part-time to the President’s Y2K Date Change Task Force. I helped support GSA’s efforts to educate the public about efforts to prepare computer systems for the “odometer roll-over” as we informally termed it. This was a real risk but with some advance planning and a few common sense actions, the world came through the year 2000 with just a few humorous hiccups.
Now, NASA has launched a web page to handle the concerns around the 2012 “prophecy.” 2012 is not real like the Y2K problem and even the Mayan elders are disclaiming the hype around the “prophecy.” Of course this won’t convince the conspiracy theorists but it may help people who can distinguish between a movie and reality.
UPDATE: Slate has an article explaining how the government’s response to Y2K might hamper efforts on global warming and pandemics.