PUBLIC FORUM : IS Y2K A PROBLEM FOR COMPUTERS, OR A HUMAN FREAKOUT?

Re ``Millennium Bug.'' OK, I admit it. I'm a cave man when it comes to computers. But I have been thinking about this Y2K thing and there's something I don't get. I understand the basic problem, Dec. 31, 1999, going to Jan. 1, 2000, and all that. But what I'm not getting is why that would make such a huge difference to a computer. How does it know that ``00'' isn't supposed to follow ``99''? Aren't they just symbols to a computer?

I mean, we know that the last two digits represent the number we associate with a certain year, but why would those digits have any special significance to a computer?

- Ken Lucas 

Woodland Hills

Re Y2K: Some people won't be touched, others will be hurt, some will be ruined and some will die.

Based on all the evidence at hand, I see rough times, at least as bad as the depression of the 1930s. Information is what makes the modern world go round.

Our modern system is wonderful when it works. When it fails it is living hell. We suffer from domino theory and weak links in chains. One hundred years ago, a farmer fed eight people. Today an American farmer feeds 212 people. Would you like to milk 200 cows by hand? What happens to chickens at egg farms or cattle in feed lots if the water pumps go out?

Medical problems are worse. Consider diabetics. If the power fails, the refrigeration fails and their insulin spoils. Most of the world's insulin (70 percent) is made in one plant in Denmark. The world's diabetics are betting their lives on the computers in that plant plus the computers that supply power, clean water, sewage, bookkeeping, inventory, raw materials, phones, banking, etc. to that plant. And every computer in the transportation and distribution chain between the plant in Denmark and the diabetic's arm in Los Angeles.

Remember, there are two problems here. One is the Y2K computer problem. The other is people's reaction to the problem. Remember, we were shooting each other in gas lines during the Arab oil embargo. People burned a part of Los Angeles just because they did not like a court decision. How will we react if even 5 percent of our critical systems go down for over a week?

Are terrorists, foreign or domestic, waiting to strike under cover of Y2K? How many thieves and embezzlers are waiting to make stuff and money disappear and let Y2K get the blame?

It is an old saying, ``When America catches cold, the rest of the world gets pneumonia.'' Remember the Great Depression? We got Roosevelt, the New Deal, CCC, TVA, WPA, etc. The Germans got Hitler and the Gestapo.

- Woodrow J. Hughes

Northridge

It's now just about a year since I started using my first ATM card with a 2000 expiration date. The day it arrived, I panicked and called my bank. Could I have one expiring December 1999? No, they said, ``We have worked with the merchants and your card will work at all their registers as well as our machines.''

I was skeptical, but a year later, three of my cards have 2000 dates, and - so far - no problems.

My diabetes ``one touch'' blood meter has a six-digit date, so I called the manufacturer and learned that Y2K is not an issue. The machine is calibrated from 1992-2014.

So for the rest, who knows? Just remember the odometer on your auto goes from 999,999 to 000,000 routinely, and your car doesn't come to a halt.

- Rick Rofman

Van Nuys

It is not the Y2K bug, specifically, that I am concerned with. If it happens, it happens.

What worries me most is the alarm decrying all the problems this possible problem may cause. This fear tactic has given every con artist an invitation to cheat, lie and steal, blaming missing funds, mistakes on credit cards and payments not received on the Y2K problem. It seems a dishonest person's dream.

It is very sad for me to admit that at the top of my list of con artists are greedy government agencies and the very entities on which we all rely. Does anyone really believe that if government agencies, utility companies and banks profit from the Y2K bug, they will return any ill-gotten financial gain?

It is also conceivable to me (although I've been told I'm wrong) that everyone will flip the switch of their computer on at 11:59 p.m., 1999, ``just to see what will happen.'' Could the overload we create cause our own Y2K bug? Keep in mind that the celebrations happening that evening will already be ``an electrical storm'' of a high magnitude.

- Marilyn Dalrymple

Lancaster

The Y2K problem has been known for some 20 years and reported to the executives of industry and government. The super-highly paid bosses have chosen to do nothing, until now, the last moment.

An old adage that seems to apply, ``Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency for me.'' Now we all may have to pay for their lack of planning.

- Joseph H. Abel

Sun Valley

I'm a student at Van Nuys High School and this is my opinion on the Y2K bug.

As the clock winds down to the end of 1999, the deadline for the Y2K bug also draws near. The Y2K bug is a computer-programming flaw that has many people predicting disorder on Jan. 1. The computer problem is rapidly turning into the social problem.

The problem starts from the incapability of older computer systems to acknowledge years past 1999. These older systems might crash because they were programmed to use only the last two digits of a given year, so they may read ``00'' in the date as 1900, not as 2000.

People should stop worrying because the government is doing its job to solving the flaw. Around the world, government agencies and corporations are expending thousands of billions of dollars to fix date-sensitive systems.

There are signs of progress of solving the problem. The Social Security system is 100 percent prepared. Most of the governments have finished more than half of their repairs. Utility and telecommunications firms say the number of date-sensitive chips in their equipment seems to be lower than expected.

Since the authorities seem to have almost everything under control, why stress about if life will continue after the bug? The Y2K bug is a minor setback to our technological advances. The mistake is almost all corrected and will be checked this month.

Life will endure the Y2K bug. It is just a way one sees things. Just because some people predict the coming of World War III definitely does not mean that it will actually occur. The same goes for this bug. So relax. Don't worry. All will end well.

- Sun Min Lee

Los Angeles

You ask who will be effected by the ``Millennium Bug.''

If someone has a phone, uses electricity, uses gas, or uses water, they will be affected because all these services depend on computers to be delivered. If someone uses a bank, goes to the market, goes to the post office or uses any other retailer, they will be affected because all these institutions are dependent upon computers.

In short, anyone but a hermit living in the Santa Monica Mountains will be affected.

- Craig Lennon Kysar

Sherman Oaks

Predictions of chaos resulting from the ``Millennium Bug'' are greatly overblown. Sure, computers are pervasive in our society, economy and products we use, but how often is a specific date important to their functionality? A couple of examples: Does the amount of a benefit check depend on your age? You should be concerned, get some assurance that this will not be a problem and keep records.

Does your microwave oven care what day it is? No.

For large systems, e.g. electrical power and air traffic control, it's difficult to answer the common-sense question - is a specific date important? Technicians will monitor their functions and use manual override of the computers, if necessary.

I am amused though, by the General Accounting Office telling Congress that the problems presented by the Y2K bug to the U.S. Postal Service are ``among the most complex of the public entities we have examined.''

What's so complex about delivering the mail? If the U.S. Postal Service has undelivered mail, they should deliver it, no matter what year.

- Homer Hummel 

West Hills

Y2K is, I believe, a slogan magnified by the media - primarily the electronic branches. Like O.J., Diana, Monica, crime reports and police chases; try anything for ratings and sales.

Speaking of sales . . . the last six months of 1999 might set a record for consumer spending. Conversely, the first six months of 2000 might find the economy very weak. All those air raid shelter goods will last a long time.

Corporations, small businesses, banks and any private-sector organizations, which stand to lose money from this latent calamity, will have the problem solved.

My only Y2K fears are caused by the federal, state and local governments. These are the only organizations which often make losing money seem like a habit, yet remain in business. These are also the organizations on which nearly every human being in this country depends for one thing or another.

If government gets its act together, there will be no bad news on New Year's Day.

- R. L. Lawrence

Los Angeles

I believe the Y2K problem that is facing us Jan. 1, 2000, is going to be a rude awakening for a great many Americans, as well as people worldwide. Our government has not taken the steps to ensure that the ``Millennium Bug'' will not affect our way of life. If most of the computers in America, and worldwide too, are not corrected before Jan. 1, we could be in a very bad state of affairs.

Imagine turning on your water and none comes out, flick the lights on and nothing happens, go to the gas station and the pumps aren't working, at the supermarket there is no food on the shelves, and even if they have food to sell the registers at the checkout don't work, you can't use the phone, and hospitals are unable to use emergency equipment because of computer failure.

Store away a few weeks' supplies and don't believe what the leaders of the country are telling us - that the effects may be minimal. Deception is common ground in politics, so start preparing for the worst and if it doesn't happen you've really lost nothing. But if we end up in a major emergency situation you'll be somewhat prepared.

I truly don't think our government and private businesses have done their best to ensure that our country will run as usual. They've known about the Y2K bug for more than 15 years, and only in the past two years are we now hearing anything about it in the media. More than 32 percent of American banks will not be computer ready, so will not be able to conduct business as usual.

- Pat Bauman

Simi Valley

In my opinion, the Y2K ``meltdown'' will be worse than all of America's conflicts combined since 1776.

I see a nation of system-dependent citizens turning into rampaging barbarian mobs when their frivolous necessities of life are removed from their daily existence.

The lawless hordes will lay siege to every major city in the U.S. and pitched street battles will be reminiscent of Hue City in South Vietnam in 1968.

The government officials who knew of this impending calamity and did nothing to prevent it will most likely try to place the blame on a vast right-wing conspiracy.

Citizens who take up arms trying to restore the peace will be labeled as mean-spirited zealots. The only positive side to all this impending gloom and doom is that this may hamper the Democrats from taking control of the U.S. House and Senate.

- Phillip A. Pilgram

Glendale