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Will Y3K cause a panic like the last one Did?

TheThinker · 56-60, M
Nope, because now these things use four-digit years instead of two-digit years, so 10000AD is the next one that will be hit by that.

However there's a problem coming a LOT sooner than that. A timing standard used by a lot of current computer systems will run into problems in the year 2038. Why? Because that's when the number of seconds since 1st January 1970 (around 2 billion) will exceed the capability of a 32-bit computer to (easily) hold it.

You can read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

Although nowadays most things reserve 64 bits for the time value, I suspect that, given the number of existing devices that rely on 32-bit [i]time_t[/i]s (and even more so, the number of public data structures out there that have just a 32-bit space to hold time values), it will make Y2K look like a walk in the park.

Apparently it's already been causing problems with systems that have to project more than 19 years into the future (think mortgage calculations, for a start).
TheThinker · 56-60, M
@sarabee1995 Yes, the current estimate is around 13.8 billion years old so far.

However, although 292 billion years will amply cover the future life of the Earth (which will get swallowed by the sun somewhere around 7.5-8 billion), it might not cover the end of the universe, depending on which theory about it turns out to be correct... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future is fairly mind-blowing on this. :-)
sarabee1995 · 26-30, F
@TheThinker Lol, my brother loves (and studies) this stuff. I called him last night and got a whole earful about it all. I have no idea how I didn't know the universe has an expiration date. 🤦
No. Y2K was due to stupid programming practices by people in Redmond, WA. The year 2038 is the next problem year...
VeronicaPrincess · 61-69
@SomeMichGuy Why 2038?
@VeronicaPrincess UNIX/Linux machines will have their clocks roll over (they count seconds from 1 Jan 1970, with negative & positive offsets and 32 bits gets you to 2038).

Redefining it to be 64 bits and putting out the appropriate kernel/library updates is one way of putting this off, much further.

I think the Wikipedia has an article on it.
sarabee1995 · 26-30, F
Eh, not a me today problem! ;)
sarabee1995 · 26-30, F
@AnneHoney oooops ... the mathematician in me forced me to go back and count how many greats I pasted and then multiply by an average of 28 years between generations and ... ugh ... my solution will come about 2800 years too late. I pasted too many greats! Hahahaha
AnneHoney · 36-40, F
By then they might wait until 128 to have kids.lol @sarabee1995
sarabee1995 · 26-30, F
@AnneHoney Oh good point! Oh my gosh, now my estimate is ever more off!! 🤦‍♀️
VeronicaPrincess · 61-69
Y3k.. do you think we'll have avoided bombing ourselves back into the stone age? 🤔
AnneHoney · 36-40, F
Bombing risk has gone down from governments but up from crazies@VeronicaPrincess
SW-User
That would be interesting to see, but I'll be long dead before that happens.

 
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