: many efforts have been taken in america to correct the y2k problem.
: yet who is investigating that other countries are not making sure to correct these computer glitches in their systems? do they even know? are they even aware? do they care?
: what about countries who have nueclear weapons aimed at the US yet lack the resources, or even gave the thought to correct the dates in thier computers?
: McSpotlight: Truth is, no-one in the I.T. industry is totally sure about what's going to happen. We *think* we've plugged most of the gaps, but there's only one way to find out. North America's military arsenal is in fact as uncertain as Russia, but the two countries have signed an accord saying that any nuclear launch on Jan the 1st will be purely accidental and not an act of war; which would be a great relief to the people who get nuked by accident.: It could be nothing abnormal; it could be the end of civilisation as we know it; no one is 100% certain...
Perhaps it somehow suits pacifists, peaceniks, and greens to raise the specter of nuclear holocaust on January 1, 2000 but I assure you that in America's ICBM system there is no software based system between the President of America (who actually makes the second to the last decision to launch) and each silo commander (who, after verifying the order, manually launches the missle) that accounts for date or time of day. The associated hardware and software is task oriented and no timing device other than simple crystal increment timing is employed in those systems. Due to the sobering consequences of any ICBM launch, both the Soviet and American systems were designed with no automation in the final stages of the process. NORAD has all kinds of automated warning systems that imply certain appropriate defense conditions but even the DefCon system is not software automated, and therefore susceptible to software glitches. DefCon levels are set by NORAD Commander.
This leaves the possibility of first strike to a country other than the U.S. or Russia. But it is a poor assumption that these coutries are going to employ systems that cut humans out of the loop. Most of these systems are based on the U.S./Soviet model anyway. If not directly reproducing the technology they have certainly emulated the model of war.
The only thermonuclear war we will have on January 1, 2000 will be because some two bit dictator was stupid enough to think he could launch one and blame it on Y2K.
Stuart Gort
None.
