The year 2038 problem (also known as Y2038, Y2K38, Y2K38 superbug or the Epochalypse) is a time formatting bug in computer systems that represent times after the time 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038.
The problem exists in systems which measure Unix time – the number of seconds elapsed since the Unix epoch (00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970) – and store it in a signed 32-bit integer. The data type is only capable of representing integers between −(231) and 231 − 1, meaning the latest time that can be properly encoded is 231 − 1 seconds after epoch (03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038). Attempting to increment to the following second (03:14:08) will cause the integer to overflow, setting its value to −(231) which systems will interpret as 231 seconds before epoch (20:45:52 UTC on 13 December 1901). The problem is similar in nature to the year 2000 problem.
A lot of old PC hardware simply couldn’t scale to modern needs. On the plus side, things like virtualization and 64-bit architecture are helping solve issues like this.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I can see the same thing happening with climate change; say we successfully avert it, you’ll have all the lunatics on saying, “see?? There was nothing to worry about, we stressed and struggled for nothing!!1!”
Remember when Y2K was going to potentially end the world, but it didn’t thanks to experts working 'round the clock?
Remember when corporations turned around and got pissy because Y2K was successfully avoided, claiming that it was all a big hoax?
Remember how it’s now taught in some places that Y2K was a hoax and you can’t trust experts?
No wonder the world struggled with COVID.
It cost like half a trillion dollars to avert the issues of Y2K. A lot of people don’t realize how much of an issue it was.
The reason Y2K wasn’t a big deal was through the efforts of software developers and the only recognition they got was the movie Office Space.
Are you ready to go through it again soon?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem
A lot of old PC hardware simply couldn’t scale to modern needs. On the plus side, things like virtualization and 64-bit architecture are helping solve issues like this.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I can see the same thing happening with climate change; say we successfully avert it, you’ll have all the lunatics on saying, “see?? There was nothing to worry about, we stressed and struggled for nothing!!1!”