The truth about Y2K

Summary

Today, Explained: The Truth About Y2K – Detailed Summary

Release Date: December 6, 2024
Hosts: Sean Rameswaram and Noel King
Episode Title: The Truth About Y2K

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Introduction

In this episode of Today, Explained, hosts Sean Rameswaram and Noel King delve into the widely discussed yet often misunderstood event known as Y2K. They explore both the cultural impact of Y2K and the reality behind the fears and preparations that surrounded the turn of the millennium.

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Kyle Mooney’s New Movie: Y2K

[00:46] Sean Rameswaram:
“We’re joined by Kyle Mooney, who is not only a familiar face from shows like Saturday Night Live but also the creator of the new movie Y2K. Kyle shares insights into his film and the inspiration behind it.”

[00:44] Kyle Mooney:
"Y2K actually happens on Today, Explained... I was really excited by just taking left turns and, like, doing something that elicits reaction."
(00:46)

Kyle Mooney discusses his latest project, Y2K, a film that reimagines the events of the millennium bug turning catastrophic. Unlike traditional teen movies of the late '90s and early 2000s, Kyle's version introduces a darker twist where technology malfunctions lead to widespread chaos.

[04:10] Phoebe Rios:
"Did he ask you to the prom?"
(04:10)

Kyle reflects on his teenage years during Y2K, expressing disappointment that nothing monumental occurred despite widespread fears. This nostalgia serves as the foundation for his film, blending teen culture with apocalyptic themes.

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Why Y2K Didn’t Happen: Historical Context

The hosts and their guests provide a comprehensive look at the Y2K phenomenon, separating myth from reality.

Origins of the Y2K Problem

[15:30] Phoebe Rios:
"So pretty much from the beginning of this problem, and it has its origins in the 1950s and 1960s, the computer programmers who are making the decision which eventually is going to become the Y2K problem, they're aware that eventually this is going to become a problem."
(15:30)

Y2K originated from early computer programming practices where years were represented with two digits to save memory and storage space. This shortfall meant that the year 2000 could be misinterpreted by systems, potentially leading to failures in date-related functions.

Awareness and Preparations

[16:01] Kyle Mooney:
"The worst part is the embedded chips. Those are the little things that run your coffee maker, open and close the security gates on a bank."
(16:01)

Throughout the 1970s to the late 1990s, awareness of the Y2K issue grew within the IT sector and government agencies. Significant efforts were undertaken to update systems, with experts like Bob Beamer advocating for proactive measures long before the millennium approached.

[15:47] Kyle Mooney:
"Nobody really anticipated that we would be worried about a hundred year span, but people from 1900 are still alive."
(15:47)

Despite early warnings, the full extent of Y2K was not universally recognized until closer to the year 2000, prompting both public and private sectors to mobilize resources to address the potential crisis.

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Public Perception and Media Hype

Media Sensationalism

[17:49] Sean Rameswaram:
"Was the extent to which people freaked out? Was there a panic?"
(17:49)

Phoebe Rios explains that while there wasn’t widespread panic, media outlets capitalized on the sensational aspect of Y2K, often portraying it as an impending apocalypse. Headlines like Newsweek’s 1997 cover story amplified fears, sometimes overshadowing the behind-the-scenes efforts to mitigate issues.

Public Behavior

[18:40] Zachary Loeb:
"It's making people buy water, buy generators... you got this big problem coming."
(18:40)

In response to media coverage, some individuals took precautionary measures such as stockpiling supplies or even relocating to areas perceived as safer, like Alaska. These actions, while not leading to large-scale panic, reflected the underlying anxiety surrounding the potential technological collapse.

Cultural References

[19:35] Phoebe Rios:
"And it's easy to look at that and be like, oh, yeah, listen to these strange people who are preparing for the end of the world."
(19:35)

Popular culture also mirrored these anxieties. For instance, The Simpsons featured a Y2K-themed episode where Homer Simpson’s incompetence leads to catastrophic failures, reinforcing the comedic yet fearful narrative surrounding the event.

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Why Y2K Didn’t Lead to Disaster

Effective Mitigation Efforts

[10:09] Sean Rameswaram:
"But the advantage of Y2K was, as we discussed at the top, the deadline, right? We are better at working together as a planet when there's an asteroid heading towards Earth and when there's no asteroid, we hate each other, we fight with each other, we're petty as hell."
(10:09)

The successful navigation of Y2K was largely due to extensive preparations and collaborative efforts across industries and governments. Experts worked tirelessly to identify and rectify potential issues, ensuring that critical systems remained operational.

Real, Yet Limited Issues

[22:12] Phoebe Rios:
"And now, I'm just, like, lucky that we're getting it out sort of in time, because I feel like we're probably at a moment where people will be sick of it after this. You know what I mean? And we could be, like, a month or two away."
(22:12)

While major disruptions were avoided, the Crisis Averted Report by the Senate Special Committee documented several minor issues that did occur, such as problems with satellites and nuclear power plants. However, these were swiftly managed, preventing any significant impact on daily life.

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Lessons from Y2K

Technological Dependency

[22:00] Phoebe Rios:
"At the core of Y2K is really a confrontation with how reliant we as a society and we as a world have become on computer technology."
(22:00)

Y2K highlighted the deep reliance modern society has on computer systems. From electric grids to grocery stores, almost every aspect of daily life is intertwined with technology, emphasizing the need for robust and forward-thinking infrastructure maintenance.

Proactive Problem-Solving

[09:04] Kyle Mooney:
"Y2K was something that we were over prepared for... there are people doing stuff, you know, there were people working on these computers and, like, making sure that we were ready."
(09:04)

The episode underscores the importance of proactive measures in preventing technological crises. By taking expert advice seriously and mobilizing resources effectively, society can avert potential disasters before they escalate.

Global Collaboration

[24:29] Phoebe Rios:
"There is something to always being thoughtful about, like, okay, we should maybe take this somewhat seriously and think about it and make sure we're all good."
(24:29)

International cooperation was pivotal in addressing Y2K challenges. Sharing best practices and expertise across borders ensured a unified approach, demonstrating the benefits of global collaboration in tackling widespread issues.

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Conclusion: The Legacy of Y2K

[26:22] Sean Rameswaram:
"Y2K can also teach us that sometimes when we see that coming and the experts are like, hey, we've got this problem coming, we can listen to the experts and we can marshal the resources that they are saying are necessary and perhaps we can solve the problem before it becomes a catastrophe."
(26:22)

Reflecting on Y2K, the episode emphasizes that foresight and collective action are crucial in addressing potential crises. While Y2K ultimately resulted in minimal disruption, the significant effort invested serves as a blueprint for how society can effectively manage future technological challenges.

Join us next time on Today, Explained, as we explore more pivotal moments in recent history and their impact on our present.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Kyle Mooney:
  "I hung out with my friend Mark. We watched the MTV New Year's Eve special... I don't know that I was, like, particularly super nervous or frightened as to what could happen when Midnight arrived."
  (03:02)

• Phoebe Rios:
  "It's important to continue thinking about Y2K, because at the core of Y2K is really a confrontation with how reliant we as a society and we as a world have become on computer technology."
  (14:09)

• Zachary Loeb:
  "Prepare as you would for a heavy winter storm with possible ramifications and possible complexities."
  (22:00)

• Kyle Mooney:
  "Y2K was something that we were over prepared for... making sure that we were ready."
  (09:04)

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Credits

• Host: Sean Rameswaram
• Guest: Kyle Mooney
• Contributors: Phoebe Rios, Zachary Loeb
• Production: Avishai Artsy, Amna Al Saadi (Editor), Anup Dusseau (Fact Checker)
• Music: Breakmaster Cylinder
• Distribution: WNYC via Vox Media Podcast Network

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Transcript

[Sean Romesfurm]

25 years ago, if you were alive, you or someone close to you was wondering what would happen when the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve. Would the power go out? Would planes crash? Would ATMs start spitting out money all over the world? But then nothing happened. But what if something did?

[Kyle Mooney]

I was 15 when Y2K happened, and for those of us who who were alive during Y2K, it was a letdown. Nothing really happened. And I think I've always been sort of minorly obsessed with that. So one day the idea kind of struck me to make up a movie about teenagers, go to a party and.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Y2K actually happens on Today, Explained Kyle Mooney is going to tell us about his new movie, Y2K, and then we're going to hear why Y2K didn't happen.

[Zachary Loeb]

Amazon Q Business is the generative AI assistant from AWS because business can be slow, like wading through the mud. But Amazon Q helps streamline work, so tasks like summarizing monthly results can be done in no time. Learn what Amazon Q Business can do for [e-mail] learnmore that's aws.com learnmore.

[Kyle Mooney]

This message is a paid partnership with Apple Pay. When you've got a gift list to finish, the last thing you want to do is take out your wallet a million times. Instead, pay the Apple way. With Apple Pay, you can pay with the phone you're already holding. Just double click, smile at Face ID tap, and you're done. The people in line behind you will thank you. Apple Pay is a service provided by Apple Payment Services, llc, a subsidiary of Apple Inc. Any card used in Apple Pay is offered by the card issuer. 3, 2, 1 today explain.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Sean Romesfurm. You might know me from today, explained Kyle Mooney. You might know from his pitch perfect inside SoCal quick hits all right.

[Kyle Mooney]

Love is your boys. Without them, you are weak. They give you strength and believe in you and are always down to let you be who you are. Even if sometimes you're not down to drinking smoke. Let's face it, you're always gonna be down to drinking smoke.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Or from his flexing Baby Yoda on Saturday Night Live.

[Kyle Mooney]

Baby Groot. Do me a favor. Keep my name out your little tree.

[Avishai Artsy]

Mouth before I snap you like a twig.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Or maybe you heard he made a movie called Y2K that opens in theaters today. Y2K is real. We asked Kyle what he was doing on New Year's Eve 1999.

[Kyle Mooney]

I hung out with my friend Mark. We watched the MTV New Year's Eve special. So I would have, I guess, been enjoying Carson Daly riffing with Kathy Griffin. Carson Daly with Kathy Griffin. I just talked to my folks in California. Got to say Happy New Year to them. Hi, mom and Dad. I don't know that I was, like, particularly super nervous or frightened as to what could happen when Midnight arrived. It is officially the year 2000. If you can hear my voice. The Y2K bug is certainly not around, and what a historical moment. But my mom prepped and she like, you know, got some goodies just in case. I guess the world was destroyed in some way or another, I guess. I mean, in the moment, it just sort of came and went. I don't know what thought I gave to it until, like, I just started minorly obsessing over it. Like, it would just hit me every once in a while. The story we were always interested in telling was, to a degree, a riff on teen culture of the era. Specifically, like, all of these movies were coming out that were geared towards us. It was she's all that.

[Phoebe Rios]

Did he ask you to the prom?

[Kyle Mooney]

Can't Hardly wait, American Pie, 10 Things I Hate about yout. Number one, no dating til you graduate. Number two, no dating till you graduate to a degree. I don't know that I thought in terms of, like, this is speaking to teenagedom as to, like, this is sort of like the culture that was kind of being blasted to me, and I wanted to return to that.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Of course, unlike all those movies you just named, this movie takes a fairly dark turn. As much as you're willing to share with people what happens when the clock strike 12 in Y2K, your movie @.

[Kyle Mooney]

Midnight, the machines go crazy and start killing people, essentially.

[Phoebe Rios]

Oh, shit. A Tamagotchi just drilled through a chick's head. Come on, we gotta go.

[Kyle Mooney]

It's weird. I don't feel like I've ever made anything that has maybe been so violent. But I was really excited by just taking left turns and, like, doing something that elicits reaction. Like, I really hope that if people see it, you know, there are some laughs, there are some tears, and there are some moments of like, oh, my shit, that's fucking crazy. Did I say, oh, my shit? Oh, my shit. That's actually not. I kind of. I don't hate that.

[Sean Romesfurm]

I think you should run with that. You mentioned there are a lot of movies when we were teenagers that came out that were for and about teenagers. We've also got a long lineage of movies in which technology turns on us and terrorizes us. And Y2K, your movie is the latest in a long line. Why do we love to watch technology try and kill us? Did you think about that while you were making this movie?

[Kyle Mooney]

I mean, I think that fear is constantly present. You know, it's like Hal 9000 or something like that.

[Zachary Loeb]

Open the pod bay doors, Hal.

[Kyle Mooney]

I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. I feel like with the introduction of electronics and robotics, like there's always been that thought that, like, when is the point that these things are gonna turn on us? And like, even in the course of working on this movie, we started writing it in 2019 and now it's 2024 that it's coming out. Like we've seen an evolution of AI and like it's seemingly become more threatening and more real than even it was when we were first started talking about this.

[Sean Romesfurm]

A lot of the actors in your movie weren't even alive on New Year's Eve 1999. Did you have to have like, you know, Camp Y2K, where you kind of gave them the essentials of what life was like back then?

[Kyle Mooney]

We made playlists for them, we sent them lists of movies to watch and, you know, any phrase or reference they didn't know, obviously we'd fill them in. It was really on them to decide how much they wanted to invest in learning about the culture and the time. Like, I think the characters, like, even though they are these archetypes of the period and like some of them are very distinctly late 90s, early 2000s, there is a universal quality to them. And I think that like, even our young actors, I think, could relate. Like, I know a comp to this and I know the vulnerability of being this age. I say let's go to the party.

[Phoebe Rios]

I don't know, dude, listen.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Okay, in a few hours you have a built in excuse to kiss the.

[Phoebe Rios]

Newly single girl of your dreams.

[Sean Romesfurm]

And some of our older listeners might be listening to us like reminiscing about 25 years ago and be like, son, it wasn't that different. But it feels especially true because Y2K, beyond your movie even is having a moment. I mean, there are like Y2K vintage clothing stores. Charli XCX, who had a huge year, has a song on her album called Von Dutch.

[Kyle Mooney]

Von Dutch.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Did the fact that like Y2K is back in so many ways, you know, kids using digital point and shoot cameras again, help you sell this movie to the studio that ultimately made it a 24?

[Kyle Mooney]

I think so. I mean, I can't say that I'm like, the king of the zeitgeist by any means. You know what I mean? I'm not, like, unfortunately, I'm not incredibly aware of what's happening in the moment at times, but you kind of got a sense that Y2K as a fashion aesthetic was coming back. But it's grown in the time from, like, the conceptualization to now. And now I feel like now I'm just, like, lucky that we're getting it out sort of in time, because I feel like we're probably at a moment where people will be sick of it after this. You know what I mean? And we could be, like, a month or two away.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Yeah. And then we'll see what comes back next. Do you think we can learn anything from Y2K? From your experience making this movie?

[Kyle Mooney]

You know, Y2K was something that we were over prepared for. And, like we said, nothing happened. And that's also not to say. I mean, I feel like every time I say that or anyone says that there were people doing stuff, you know, there were people working on these computers and, like, making sure that we were ready. So, like, there are these sort of unsung heroes that who knows what would have happened if they hadn't done the work that they did? But, you know, I think we've seen in our fairly recent culture and history that, like, there are moments that we were not prepared for and that then, like, kind of shifted our lives. And so there is something to always being thoughtful about, like, okay, we should maybe take this somewhat seriously and think about it and make sure we're all good. If. If something bad were to happen, I think let's not be super obsessive about it, but let's be smart about it.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Kyle Mooney's new movie is Y2K. See it wherever you see your movies, except at home. I don't think you can watch it at home just yet. When we're back on today Explained, we're gonna find out why the machines didn't turn on us 25 years ago.

[Avishai Artsy]

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[Phoebe Rios]

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[Sean Romesfurm]

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[Kyle Mooney]

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[Sean Romesfurm]

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[Zachary Loeb]

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[Sean Romesfurm]

Did it all for today Explained Zachary Loeb teaches history at Purdue University and he's especially into the history of Y2K. You can find him on campus trying to convince his students that Y2K is still worth thinking about 25 years later.

[Phoebe Rios]

I think that it's important to continue thinking about Y2K, because at the core of Y2K is really a confrontation with how reliant we as a society and we as a world have become on computer technology. Far too often, the dangers that we expose ourselves to, the risks that we expose ourselves to, they only become things that we really confront. They only become things that we really deal with in these moments of crisis. And so Y2K is this moment of crisis that forces us to think about how reliant we had become on computer technology. And I think it would be a good thing for us to be thinking about and aware issues as they persist today without needing something going horribly wrong to make us pay attention to it.

[Sean Romesfurm]

But the deadline probably helped.

[Phoebe Rios]

Oh, of course. I mean, there's nothing like having a discrete deadline to which you can count down. That really, really drives the issue. It really builds it up for all.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Of our listeners who are too young to remember or who maybe just didn't care about the hysteria in 1999? Can you remind us when exactly it was that someone said, hey, you know, there might be a huge computer glitch on New Year's Eve 1999.

[Phoebe Rios]

So pretty much from the beginning of this problem, and it has its origins in the 1950s and 1960s, the computer programmers who are making the decision which eventually is going to become the Y2K problem, they're aware that eventually this is going to become a problem.

[Kyle Mooney]

Nobody really anticipated that we would be worried about a hundred year span, but people from 1900 are still alive. One of the most fateful cost cutting measures was to deliberately leave out the first two digits of the year date.

[Sean Romesfurm]

The source of the year 2000 bug.

[Kyle Mooney]

Is older computer programs have a two digit area to store the year 85.

[Phoebe Rios]

Or 97, for instance. But it's always something that is very far distant. It's down the road. Starting in the 1970s, you start to see people talking about this a little bit more specifically. The computer scientist Bob Beamer writes an article in 1971 talking about this future problem that it's going to represent.

[Kyle Mooney]

The worst part is the embedded chips. Those are the little things that run your coffee maker, open and close the security gates on a bank.

[Phoebe Rios]

You can actually find the first coverage of this in the New York Times in 1988.

[Kyle Mooney]

Huh?

[Phoebe Rios]

1993 is really the point at which the IT sector really starts waking up to this issue, really starts working on this issue, really starts talking about this much more internally. The point at which the government really starts paying attention to this is actually 1996.

[Zachary Loeb]

Without the conversion to the four digit.

[Kyle Mooney]

Date as is needed for the year 2000, our entire government computer system could potentially fail.

[Zachary Loeb]

And as we know in today's world, computers throughout this nation and around the world are interrelated and interdependent.

[Kyle Mooney]

The potential problems are widespread. The systems impacted by this software glitch range from personal computers to the computer systems which operate at the Department of Defense.

[Phoebe Rios]

And by the time the public really starts to pay much more attention to this, the irony is those working in it, those on the government side are already pretty confident that the problem is like, being handled. They are less concerned by the point that the public starts having its freak out. To the extent that that happens, what.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Was the extent to which people freaked out? Was there a panic?

[Phoebe Rios]

I'm not sure there really was panic. I think that there were lots of media outlets that were really, really eager to report on the end of the world, because reporting on the end of the world is big and flashy and exciting. And in 1997, there's this cover story in Newsweek magazine that's like the day the world crashes. And it has like a computer monitor crashing through the magazine cover. And that's like big and exciting. And within a lot of that media coverage, once the public starts paying more attention, there's all of this effort to find the people who think the world is ending and to kind of elevate these people who are saying it's the end of days, it's the end of time. Buy a shotgun and head for the hinterlands.

[Zachary Loeb]

It's making people buy water, buy generators. You know, they're stocking up. You know, you got this big problem coming. You know, I know some people moved.

[Kyle Mooney]

To Alaska because of this.

[Phoebe Rios]

I don't know that it's necessarily going to be a computer problem.

[Kyle Mooney]

I think it's going to be a social and people problem. I think we're going to be setting ourselves back to about the 1800s. I don't want to sound like a.

[Zachary Loeb]

Wacko gun nut or something, but you.

[Phoebe Rios]

Have to be able to hunt. You have to be able to protect your family. Because, look, it's fun to imagine society collapsing in a way that it isn't fun to imagine a bunch of IT workers dutifully doing their jobs and repairing code. 60 Minutes did a good long piece on Y2K, if you want to.

[Kyle Mooney]

There are plenty of things to worry about as we approach the end of the 20th century. Global warming, biological warfare, meteors from outer space, and now Y2K.

[Phoebe Rios]

And it's easy to look at that and be like, oh, yeah, listen to these strange people who are preparing for the end of the world. And then forget that. In the next clip, there was some government official being like, no, we're taking care of this. Don't worry. The Simpsons 1999 Halloween episode, their Treehouse of Horror. They had a segment called Life's a Glitch in which Homer Simpson was responsible for doing the Y2K maintenance at the Springfield nuclear power reactor. And he fails to do it.

[Kyle Mooney]

That's Homer Simpson's computer. Oh, God, it's spreading.

[Phoebe Rios]

The world kind of ends. And it's easy to remember that. But it's the Simpsons. It's satirical.

[Kyle Mooney]

Well, look at the wonders of the computer age now. Wonders, Lisa or blunders? I think that was implied by what I said. Implied. Lisa or implode. Mom, make him stop.

[Phoebe Rios]

And luckily, the world of nuclear maintenance, the world of computer maintenance, isn't filled with Homer Simpsons.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Sometimes it feels like the world is filled with Homer Simpsons. But I think you're getting at an essential point that I really want to stress here, because our collective memory of Y2K is the ultimate nothing burger. But what you're suggesting here is that there are a lot of people working behind the scenes. Unsung heroes, perhaps. Oh, yeah, who made it a nothing burger? Did things actually go wrong on New Year's Eve 1999? Can we correct the record here?

[Phoebe Rios]

So I think that it's important to answer this question in two ways. When we talk about what the expectations were for what was going to happen, it's really important to note that by the time you get to 1998 to 1999, most of the people in the IT sector, most of the people in the government who are working on this are saying that Y2K is going to Be a bump in the road.

[Kyle Mooney]

We do not at the moment expect that this will be, as the websites are calling it, teotihuaci. That's the acronym for the End of the World as we know it.

[Phoebe Rios]

People around the Clinton administration liked to particularly use the phrase like a winter storm.

[Zachary Loeb]

Prepare as you would for a heavy winter storm with possible ramifications and possible complexities. I would have certainly some amount of.

[Kyle Mooney]

Water in my basement.

[Zachary Loeb]

I would have some food in my basement, flashlights.

[Phoebe Rios]

Now, in terms of what actually happened when 1999 became 2000, well, I imagine some people drank champagne, some people maybe kissed somebody. I imagine that as this recent film makes clear, there were some teenagers who were getting involved in hijinks, but the computers did not come crashing down, the lights did not fail. But that doesn't mean that nothing happened. And if you look at, for example, the Crisis Averted Report, which is the Senate Special Committee on the year 2000 problems Final Report that they put out in the early months of the year 2000, there are pages and pages and pages of things that went wrong that they're documenting. Issues with satellites, issues at nuclear power plants, lots and lots of issues that were Y2K related that did in fact happen. So one of the things that Y2K really drove home was the extent to which by the end of the 20th century, so much of daily life had become dependent on computer systems, computer related infrastructure. Y2K wasn't just about people's new desktop computers. Y2K was about the fact that the electric grid was relying on computers, that keeping the grocery stores stocked properly was also reliant on computers. And just as it's important for us to make sure that we are taking care of and maintaining our more traditional infrastructure, bridges, tunnels, stuff like that, as computing becomes infrastructural, we also need to make sure that we are maintaining and properly taking care of.

[Sean Romesfurm]

But the advantage of Y2K was, as we discussed at the top, the deadline, right? We are better at working together as a planet when there's an asteroid heading towards Earth and when there's no asteroid, we hate each other, we fight with each other, we're petty as hell. How do we address our biggest problems, be they technology, be they climate change, be they the asteroid that's just out there that might hit Earth, but it's not on a direct collision course yet without the looming threat.

[Phoebe Rios]

Yeah, if I knew the answer to this, that would be wonderful. I would sleep much better at night. I do think that unfortunately, sometimes it does take a looming threat with a hard deadline to push people to work together on something. And Y2K certainly did involve lots and lots of people working very hard together. The level of bipartisanship in the US US Government at the same time that President Clinton is being impeached. Mind you, the bipartisanship around working on Y2K is really, really impressive in Congress. The work that companies are doing sharing best practices and information is very important. And the work that is being done internationally between countries, sharing expertise is also really, really important. I think that one of the things that Y2K can also teach us is that sometimes when we see that coming and the experts are like, hey, we've got this problem coming, we can listen to the experts and we can marshal the resources that they are saying are necessary and perhaps we can solve the problem before it becomes a catastrophe. Now, the result of doing that is that it often means that then 20 or 24 or almost exactly 25 years later, people wind up looking back at it and laughing and thinking it was funny. And they don't recognize all of the real serious work that went into mobilizing to fix the problem. But we are able to look back and laugh because luckily a lot of people at the time knew that this wasn't a joke.

[Sean Romesfurm]

Zachary Loeb, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana he's working on a book about Y2K. Avishai Artsy made our show today. He was edited by Amna Al Saadi, Fact Checked by Anup Dusseau and mixed by Patrick Boyd and Rob Byers. The rest of the Dream Team Victoria Chamberlain, Halima Shah, Amanda Llewellyn, Hadi Mawagdi, Miles Bryan, Andrea Christensdottir, Peter Balanon Rosen, and our power forward, Noel King. Laura Bullard is our senior researcher, Matthew Collette is a supervising editor, Miranda Kennedy is our executive producer and we use music by Breakmaster. Cylinder Today Explained is distributed by wnyc. The show is a part of vox. You can support our journalism by joining our membership program today. You can go to vox.commembers to sign up and you can rate review. Tell a friend about the show to help us out before the clock strikes midnight, preferably.

[Kyle Mooney]

Oh my.

[Zachary Loeb]

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