Y2K and the Four Defects

[Guest guest]

Y2K AND THE FOUR DEFECTS

 

Reading the different headlines about Y2K computer crashes and Y2K

scams, I've been thinking lately how Y2K provides us with an excellent

example of how human beings can be victimized by the four defects of

human perception:

 

1. Tendency to Make Mistakes

2. Tendency to Cheat

3. Imperfect Senses

4. Tendency to Be in Illusion

 

 

TENDENCY TO MAKE MISTAKES

 

Obviously, the whole Y2K situation revolves around one big mistake -

using two numerical digits to represent a four-digit year-date. That

was probably the biggest mistake ever made in the history of business

dealings. That is a mistake that has to be fixed millions or billions

of times around the world before January 1, to keep things going as they

are now.

 

But, even in fixing that mistake, there is always the chance of making

new mistakes. For example, today's (May 19) Bangkok Post notes,

"Morning trade on the Stock Exchange of Thailand was cancelled yesterday

when errors were discovered in the market's computer trading system." It

seems that in trying to upgrade its system for Y2K, the stock exchange

system accidentally introduced new mistakes.

 

So fixing old mistakes and catching new mistakes is an important part of

trying to escape the problem of the Millennium Bug.

 

Of course, the other mistake that we made was to build a global culture

on greed and the concentration of wealth to be used for materialistic

purposes. Some people wonder whether Krsna is sending the Y2K problem

as a way of extracting us from our crazy greed.

 

 

TENDENCY TO CHEAT

 

As Peter de Jager states: "The code is broken; it has to be fixed."

Among most of us at least, there is no question that many computer based

systems around the world, ranging from telecommunications to banking to

electrical power to public safety and sewage and water and numerous

other systems will cease to function properly if they are not fixed

before January 2000 (and some must be fixed before that). So, we must

provide funding and we must engage technicians to fix the mistaken

codes.

 

However, the problem is that there is a tendency to cheat. As early as

last September, the United States Department of Defense made the front

page when it was discovered that they were lying when they claimed that

five major systems had been remediated, when in fact only three had been

fixed. Is anyone truly surprised that there is cheating going on in the

government?

 

We receive constant reassurances that this government agency or that

banking business is Y2K compliant - but how do we know who is lying and

who is telling the truth? In most cases, we won't find out for another

7 months.

 

To make problems worse, the fact that numerous programmers are being

imported from abroad, with reduced security clearance, makes it an ideal

time for sabotage by different political groups and other malcontents.

This problem has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal and other

publications.

 

But, even without the problem of international sabotage, there is the

good old fashioned problem of con-artists - agencies who hire out

computer technicians to upgrade systems, but who do shoddy work because

they know that no one will catch them until next January - at which time

they will perhaps be living in the Cayman Islands or some other

inaccessible address.

 

And some groups or agencies are highly motivated to lie. What if

bankers say that they won't be ready in time? Customers will withdraw

all their funds. There is no possible way that any bank will admit that

it won't be ready. What if Alan Greenspan says that the American

economy will suffer a deep recession? The stock market will collapse

immediately. There is no possible way that the Federal Reserve would

admit it publicly if they thought that Y2K was a serious threat to the

economy. Will Scotland Yard admit that the UK is seriously behind in

its public safety preparations? That would invite an escalation of

criminal activity by those seeking to take advantage of a heightened

vulnerability of the police and fire-fighting agencies. There is no

possible way they would admit it.

 

And so on, and so on. Practically every group is motivated to say it is

doing well - whether it is in fact making good preparations, or even if

it is seriously lagging behind.

 

Who's lying and who's telling the truth? We'll find out in aboiut 7

months.

 

 

IMPERFECT SENSES

 

Of course, the problem with cheaters is that their victims have

imperfect senses. Krsna has perfect senses, and He knows that XYZ

sewage treatment plant will have to shut down in for a month in January

because it received a one million dollar "repair" job by a team of

crooks. But, unfortunately the men and women sitting on the city

council have imperfect senses, and they cannot see all the lines of code

that were not even looked at. Imperfect senses.

 

I'm going to ask you: How many underground date-sensitive computer chips

are there in the Alaskan pipeline? Krsna knows the exact number. But

my senses are imperfect: I don't know, and neither do you. And

probably, neither does the CEO of the oil company who depends on

shipping his petroleum through that line. How many underground

date-sensitive computer chips are there in oil pipelines in Siberia?

Out of half a million computer chips in one oil rig, how many are date

sensitive, and must be replaced before the year 2000 to avoid serious

malfunctions. Krsna actually knows the answer to all these questions

because He has perfect senses. No one else has perfect senses, and no

one else knows the answers.

 

What about the mind? In Bhagavad-gita, the mind is considered to be one

of the senses. Who has a perfect mind? When Central Maine Power

company tells me they are prepared for Y2K, have they taken all the

factors into consideration? Are their minds that perfect? Have they

factored in the possibility that prices for imported oil to fuel their

generators may spike up because of production and shipping difficulties

in the Mid-East. Have they factored in possible banking and

telecommunications problems in Maine?

 

Our imperfect senses make us completely vulnerable to a problem as

subtle and pervasive as the Y2K computer bug.

 

 

TENDENCY TO BE IN ILLUSION

 

Truth is, even among devotees we hear the refrain: "Big business is not

stupid. Don't you worry. They are not going to let this Y2K thing wipe

them out. One way or another, they will pull through."

 

Maybe somehow big business will happen to pull through this. But it

won't be because they are so clever. It will be because Krsna's

external energy let them. It will be because Krsna let them. At least

let *us* not be in illusion. Let's not forget who is really in control

here. It is not the big businesses. It is Krsna's insurmountable

external energy, who is acting under the direction of Krsna.

 

If Krsna wants, all these businesses can be smashed at any moment by the

power of His external energy. Srila Prabhupada spells that out very

clearly in many places, including in the Bhagavad-gita, "Economic

development or supremacy all over the world can be *finished at any

moment* by the cataclysms of material nature." Bg 2.8 purport.

 

I read an excerpt of an article today, which touched on this problem of

the tendency to be in illusion [from *Y2K Today* 5/14/99 "Community

Preparedness: Getting Ready for Y2K in ;the American South" by Robert

Yehling]:

 

****************

[Mark] Matthews has run the Virginia Peninsula Y2K Preparedness Network

for a year. He feels that Norther Virginia, primarily Fairfax country,

is one of the best prepared counties in the south on a government,

community and individual level. However, he thinks that many other

cities havd not taken the cue and are leaving themselves vulnerable.

 

Of greater concern to Matthews is the wave of apathy that seems to be

rising towards the issue. A steady stream of rosy government reports on

Y2K "are leaving people thinking that it won't be so bad," he said. "I

think many are in a state of denial because they think nothing bad can

ever happen in this country."

 

*************************

 

They are in a "state of denial." That is called: the Tendency to Be in

Illusion.

 

So, with the four defects of human perception and human reasoning all in

high gear for Y2K combined with our natural tendency to coast along and

take it easy, it does not make sense to assume that life will simply

proceed smoothly, come January 2000.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi