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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span>Methinks thou dost protest too much.</span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span>The analogy to Y2K is far from perfect, but it shows one possible situation.</span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span>During the DotCom era, some people realized that there could be a serious problem when the calendar turns to 2000. Other people said, "Nay, no big deal."</span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span>As others on this email thread have said, a fair amount of effort was put into addressing the Y2K problem.</span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span>Then after all of the New Year's parties, there were folks saying, "See. I told you so. Y2K was no big deal!"</span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span>Now in many ways, the human virus problem is much more complicated. We don't know how it will play out. But China did force people to change their behavior and the spread in China seems to be reducing. And if Italians can be convinced to stay home and limit their social interaction to singing from their balconies, there is a reasonable chance that other people will heed the advice of the health department officials and maybe the spread can be not too much until better treatment and/or a vaccine is available. <br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span>Maybe it's different in NYC. Here, for the past couple weeks, I have gotten a steady stream of messages about this event and that event being cancelled. Traffic on the streets is way down.<br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span>To some this is a game about numbers, but if one fatality is someone important to you, that is totally not acceptable.</span><br></div><div><br></div>
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On Monday, March 16, 2020, 9:01:34 PM PDT, Ruben Safir <ruben@mrbrklyn.com> wrote:
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<div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none">> So it fails in all these ways.<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> As for the theory that solving the Y2K problem made people under value<br clear="none">> the problem, as opposed to heading off the virus early, I find that<br clear="none">> wholy unsatisfactory. The Y2K problem really wasn't that complex. I<br clear="none">> have reviewed at NYU Dental School nearly all of the systems for Y2K<br clear="none">> bugs, and the time the only software to suffer from the Y2K problem was<br clear="none">> a clinical system that was already being replaced, because we outgrew<br clear="none">> it. Alas, we had no cobol systems in our immediate control. Regardless<br clear="none">> of that. The Covid-19 virus actually is VERY complex, and presents a<br clear="none">> problem that the Y2K problem just didn't scale. And the action that<br clear="none">> would have been needed to head it off would be truly draconian by<br clear="none">> comparision to any solutions for Y2K. It was and does cut right to the<br clear="none">> core of our existence as a social species, tangles internation trade,<br clear="none">> international and domestic politics, making life and death decisions to<br clear="none">> isolate populations, media response, public expectations, civil<br clear="none">> liberies, medical research, etc etc.<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> The problems in a nutshell don't compare even in that narrow<br clear="none">> perspective.<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> <br clear="none"><br clear="none">One of the most interesting things about this, FWIW is that even in 1918<br clear="none">they produced a vaccination by October of 1918. I'm not sure how long<br clear="none">they actually worked on it but it underscores, in my mind, that there is<br clear="none">NO DAMN WAY that a century later that it should take one year to work up<br clear="none">a vaccination. And they got the vaccination prototyped and to mass<br clear="none">usage in about 30 days because they just cut through all the crap and<br clear="none">went straight for a cure and crossed their fingers.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">Word of the day - Virtual : Vitural museums, virtual school, virtual<br clear="none">synagauges...<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I bet 10 Qumquates on the Star Fleet Captain...<div class="ydpeb748364yqt4793275097" id="ydpeb748364yqtfd76704"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">conspire mailing list<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">conspire@linuxmafia.com</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire</a><br clear="none"></div></div></div>
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