How One Computer Bug Almost Ended the World

This is the story of how one computer bug almost ended the world...

I'm Visual Venture and I make Internet Culture Documentaries. My mission is to spread awareness about the Dark Realities of Internet Culture.

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The content in this video is for informational purposes only, based on believed reliable sources. They may not be current or fully accurate. Viewers should do their own research and not solely rely on this information. We're not liable for any inaccuracies or omissions.

I do not condone, endorse, or encourage any of the behaviors or activities shown. I urge everyone to always act responsibly and within the bounds of the law.

[VisualVenture]

hey you. yes you. you look nice today.








welcome to the under-the-fold club. our secret society of people who click "read more".

[vipbaepsae]

I'm old enough to remember this and it's just so funny bc everyone was so paranoid and scared and then NOTHING happened

[frndsrmpwr]

I was born in 92 so I remember a lot of the panic. My mom is a conspiracy theorist meanwhile my dad was an electrical engineer. My mom honest to god thought the apocalypse was about to come, that hell on earth was going to arrive and basically the entire book of Revelations would happen. Meanwhile my dad knew that it was based on the bug and computer based. It was crazy seeing both ends of the spectrum of reactions. (they ended up getting a divorce later, go figure) Honestly seeing my mom's (and similar people's) reactions made 2020 so much easier when everyone was freaking out.

[ricarte]

I love how computers have caused so much problems not because of itself, but because of us

[blurredwolf]

It's funny to think that the toilet paper hoarding is an universal chaos response

[rosebrown]

Just a little perspective from someone who lived through this (I actually was in high school during Y2K) - the media was NUTS. Most PEOPLE however, especially those NOT in a city, did a little to prepare, but not much. For example, our family of five bought ONE extra multi-roll pack of toilet paper, extra batteries, and filled the car with gas. We lived in a very rural area, so we always had full freezers (unless it was time for a big shop - but we were couponers and shopped sales, so things rarely got that low), home canned veggies from the garden, and plenty of pantry/ shelf stable stuff we could cook with. Our area almost all used gas or wood stoves to heat (and we were up not extremely far from Buffalo NY), so heating wasn't an issue, and we had a gas stove as well. I even knew how to manually light the pilot light on it, so it wasn't like we couldn't light the stove in an emergency. Because of where we lived, we always had 'snow emergency' kits around - extra blankets and warm clothes, candles for both light and heat, matches and lighters, several backup gallons of water to drink on a shelf, at least one manual can opener in the kit, and some cards/ games and books (I had younger siblings). Mostly, as someone who was a teenager, but also very into computer stuff (later became my career) I saw the issues, but also saw that it was being handled and the panic was out of proportion.

[sxap]

Looking back, the whole Y2K scare was ridiculous lol

[elleh]

Using toilet paper as currency....hell, at least *one* of the Y2K predictions came true 😅

[FourthDerivative]

1999: Worldwide panic over a potentially devastating computer bug heralding the turn of the millennium; nothing major actually happens

2024: A single company pushes a faulty patch on a random Friday afternoon; all hell breaks loose

[johnrwoodrum]

People spending 25k on potted meat, and all I wanted was school to be canceled.

[RealDiabetesno]

Dude, these mini-docs are so good that they actually put me in a really good mood. Keep it up, this is definitely something you excel at.

[pvafaeenia]

Oh wow! At 8:06 that's KRON channel 4 in the SF Bay Area. That footage in front of the church is right in front of my aunt's house where I spent a lot of my childhood! And it's also the house we celebrated the Y2K new year in when the ball dropped! How oddly fitting for this video! 😅😅😅

[BreakerLove]

Computers did not base memory storage on the date. But all new saved information would have the wrong year, But even than the year is so off it would be easy to spot. It was blown so far out of proportion by people who knew next to nothing about computers. Come at me.

[jennajeffries]

I had a teacher in highschool who worked on the y2k bug. He did let us know that the panic was indeed valid but luckily they had programmers work extremely hard to fix the bug.

[mariascott]

I totally remember this. I remember sitting in a chair in the living room of my parents' apartment. I was a 19 year old college student, in a small town in Western PA waiting for the world to just end once it hit midnight on January 1st. I watched the clock, when the time hit 12:00 midnight and nothing happened, I felt a sense of relief and disappointed. We were played. BIG TIME! Thanks for this video Visual Venture. It brings back wild memories.

[Chris-odp]

I was 17 and legit stole a car to go to a Y2K party. We had a blast and I even washed put premium gas in car and returned it while the owner never knew. GREAT PARTY

[dfferen]

The more advanced the technology, the more devastating the problems.

[Whatis_gOing_n]

“WE LOVE YOU VISUAL VENTURE” we say as a union




Some of yall think im botted!?😭LOL

[lpotts]

The turn of the century came and nothing happened. 😂

[TinkSalsa]

i worked in a semiconductor cleanroom, and we DID have equipment that broke when it rolled over to 2000. I always laugh when people say nothing broke because there was definitely equipment that did.