Catastrophic Code – Y2K as Computerized Conspiracy

• In Event: Conspiracy Theorists and Techno-Science - I

Abstract

With the deadline of December 31, 1999 less than a year away, the Senate’s Special Report on Y2K warned that much work remained. Though the report’s assessment was presented in measured tones, for some Y2K watchers the report was still overly optimistic. Thus, the Y2K catastrophist Gary North derided the report as “exactly what the public wants to hear,” warning that Y2K represented a potential “catastrophe on a scale undreamed of as recently as 1995.” North was only one of many individuals who believed that Y2K would be disastrous, regardless of the assurances by computer professionals and government agencies that the problem would be fixed. Though many of these figures drew upon religious scripture to bolster their grim predictions, just as many of these Y2K catastrophists analyzed news reports, carefully poured over Congressional testimony, and highlighted the warnings circulating within the IT community. Thus, Y2K catastrophists and conspiracy theorists, consistently drew upon the information created by technological experts in order to support their own claims, repeatedly couching eschatological beliefs in the technical terminology of IT professionals. While Y2K is often remembered as something of a hoax ginned up by doomsayers, this paper will consider the ways in which those doomsayers drew upon the work of technical and scientific experts to make their claims.

Author

• Zachary M Loeb, History & Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania