Greetings USED KARMA readers - and those of you who access this column through John Derrickson's PsyPlan(tm) site (http://www.psyplan.com)! Lately there has been a mainstream media frenzy surrounding the so-called "Year 2000" or "Y2K" problem, also referred to as the "Millennium Bug." For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last few years, this issue involves the problems that are expected to take place when thousands of computers worldwide are unable to keep processing past December 31, 1999 because they have been using two-digit year instead of four-digit year date fields. This column seeks to examine this situation from certain perspectives that are not presented in the mainstream media.
Much of the press during the past year has focused on the Y2K problem as a data processing issue. While it is true that data processing personnel are the ones charged with cleaning up the mess, the fact is that the Millennium Bug originated from financial management incompetence. Let me provide an example.
I first became aware of the Y2K problem back in 1981 when I was a lowly computer applications programmer at a large inner-city medical university and hospital. I happened to be walking by the controller's office of the computer shop I worked in. The controller was meeting with the university's senior systems programmers. The door was open, so I was able to hear the entire conversation.
The systems programmers asked the controller for permission to use four-digit year date fields instead of two-digit year date fields for all information. Back in those days computer memory was very expensive, so the bean counters wanted to be as parsimonious as possible with computer resources. The systems programmers explained the importance of using four-digit year date fields. "This is a hospital," they explained. "These mainframe computers will still be functioning in the year 2000. If doctors and pharmacists are unable to retrieve patient records on January 1, 2000 people could die! It is absolutely critical that we be allowed to use four-digit year date fields."
The controller's response was that it was his budget and his decision, and there was no way he was going to permit the systems programmers to use four-digit year date fields for hospital information. His reasoning was that he did not anticipate being employed by the hospital in the year 2000, and his job performance was measured by how tight he was with the money. He made it very plain that he felt his personal interest in getting a good performance review (and any attendant bonuses and raises) was more important to him than the lives of the hospital's patients, and he really didn't care what happened to anyone else.
As shocking as this may sound, this attitude was SO prevalent in the financial management community that now the world has a massive Y2K problem. The ultimate irony is that now both the public and private sectors are being forced to spend billions of dollars to fix a problem that may not be entirely fixable, all because they were too selfish, arrogant and short-sighted to foresee the implications of their unenlightened self-interest. Obviously the computer geek community was aware twenty and even thirty years ago that we would be facing this problem now if we didn't use four-digit year date fields then. Unfortunately the mainstream media has missed this issue completely, and continues to report on the problem as if computer geeks were responsible for creating the mess as well as cleaning it up.
Some industry pundits have argued that much of the hoopla surrounding the Millennium Bug is hype, and that there really isn't going to be much of a problem. Unfortunately, this ostrich-like posture is merely wishful thinking. Modern society is far more dependent on computer technology than most people can even begin to comprehend. Computers control the power grid, the telephone system, the water supply, air traffic control systems, road traffic control systems and just about anything else you can think of.
Fixing the problem is extremely difficult. First of all, not all Y2K problems are software-related. Obviously two-digit year date fields in software must be re-coded to four-digit year date fields. However, some old mainframe computers contain two-digit year date fields in their hardware - these fields are actually hard-wired into the computer chips responsible for information processing. The machines are so old that the original manufacturers are no longer tooled to even make those chips, so there is no way they could re-tool to make new chips with four-digit year date fields.
In addition, many firms have waited until way too late in the game to begin looking at the problem, so even if they could get everything they needed there is no way they will be finished in time. Looking through millions of lines of code for two-digit year date fields is not only tedious and time-consuming, the process is massively prone to error because it must be done by humans. Everyone knows that humans performing boring, tedious work under ridiculous time pressure are bound to make mistakes.
In addition, even if firms can find and correct all their own Y2K problems in their software and hardware, most organizations' computers interact with external computers in other organizations. No organization has control over another organization's computers. Thus systems may fail due to another party's failure to make their systems compliant with Y2K exigencies. The smartest companies are: (1) analyzing their systems to see where they do not have control; (2) forecasting their expected losses in those areas; and (3) attempting to shore up their businesses in the areas where they do have control, so they can make up for revenue they can expect to lose.
An old computer industry joke provides a good illustration of another problem related to efforts to fix the Millennium Bug. It goes like this. What is IBM's definition of a man-hour? Answer: 300 people trying to get something done before lunch. This joke illustrates a well-known principle of software management which states that adding more people to an ongoing software project not only fails to speed the project up, it actually slows it down. This is because new people need time to understand the project well enough to work on it. This drains time away from the people who are already working on the project, thus impeding everyone's progress. More people on a project means more work to be reviewed, and more room for mistakes at the management and worker level. Yet what are most companies doing right now? Exactly what they should NOT be doing -- adding more staff to their Y2K projects, thus slowing any progress they could otherwise have been expected to make.
After all that, you may be wondering how any news coming out of this morass could possibly be good. I am pleased to report that there is good news, and it is not merely my Aries optimism speaking (although that certainly helps!) The fact is that awareness of the Millennium Bug problem is forcing people to think about how technology affects all our lives. In addition, it is forcing people to cooperate with each other for the benefit of all. It is forcing management to get more involved in the computer and information design process. Whether it will help solve the financial management arrogance problem is yet to be seen.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived in New York City on April 30 for a one-week stay. New York was the first stop on a 15-city tour of the United States. His Holiness is what the Buddhists call a bodhisattva - a fully realized compassionate being. This Dalai Lama is the thirteenth incarnation of a being who has been the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people for generations. He has seen his homeland ravaged by the Chinese, who have attempted to deprive the Tibetan people of their language and culture as well as their land. The Chinese murdered the Dalai Lama's beloved mentor and forced him to flee to India, yet he remains committed to the path of nonviolence, compassion and unconditional love.
On April 30th the Dalai Lama saw "Kundun" for the first time. This film, by Martin Scorcese, tells the true story of the Dalai Lama's life. The film made His Holiness very sad, but he was pleased that Scorcese had told his story to the world, and he formally honored the famed director after viewing the film. Yet the Dalai Lama is also a man of great joy. He is truly an enlightened being.
While meditating on these events, I received the following insights into the Tibetan situation. Although the horrors visited upon the Tibetan people in this century have been truly reprehensible, these atrocities were necessary to prepare the Tibetans to become global citizens so they can participate in the emerging global culture. Prior to the ravage of their land by the Chinese, the Tibetans were an isolated people with a xenophobic culture. They feared the outside world and were determined to isolate themselves from it.
The Chinese conquest has forced the Tibetan people to become more worldly in their outlook. They have undergone a diaspora, similar to what happened to the Jews centuries ago. There are now Tibetan people living all over the world. They are being exposed to other cultures while at the same time retaining their identity as Tibetans. Old Tibetan culture would never have allowed the Tibetan people to do this on their own. It was only through bloody domination that they have opened their minds and their hearts to outsiders, and learned to see the world through eyes other than their own.
It is important to remember that destruction is the first step in the process of creation. The destruction of Tibetan monasteries, temples and villages by godless Chinese communists was a horrible act. Yet the Dalai Lama will oversee their rebuilding within the next decade. Not only will these structures be rebuilt, but they will be rebuilt without the dark places they used to contain so the light of democracy will shine through.
The Dalai Lamas of old were absolute rulers. This Dalai Lama has chosen to prepare his people for democratic rule and participation in the global community. His wisdom is simple, yet profound. The Dalai Lama says that when all people on this earth genuinely care for the happiness and well being of everyone else, we will have world peace. This peace will be achieved through self-knowledge and compassion. A brief meditation on these concepts will reveal their power and truth. The Dalai Lama reminds us to keep our hearts warm through fellowship, and to have compassion for all beings.
I hope that all of you will have the opportunity to experience the power of love as broadcast through this amazing being. If he comes to your community, go out and receive his teachings, his blessings and his love.
On May 7, 1998 I was fortunate enough to experience a teaching with the Dalai Lama at the Tibetan Learning Center in Washington, New Jersey. His Holiness is funny, passionate and wise, and the energy he projects is amazing. At the teaching, the following prayer was distributed and we read it in English three times while His Holiness recited it in Tibetan:
GENERATING THE MIND FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
With a wish to free all beings I shall always go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, until I reach full enlightenment.
Enthused by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddhas' presence I generate the Mind for Full Awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings.
As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world.
Copyright 1998 Marcy J. Gordon. All rights reserved. The author wants you to know you are free to copy and distribute this article for noncommercial purposes, provided you reproduce it in its entirety and credit the author. For quotation permission, please contact the author at mgordon@pipeline.com.
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