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timtyler comments on You'll die if you do that - Less Wrong Discussion

15 Post author: sixes_and_sevens 12 May 2011 10:27AM

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Comment author: timtyler 13 May 2011 05:00:08PM *  0 points [-]

$308 billion is pretty widely regarded as an over-spend on a problem that fizzled out.

According to the cite a Wall Street Journal editorial called the Y2K bug an "end-of-the-world cult" and the "hoax of the century".

Comment author: thomblake 13 May 2011 09:18:08PM 3 points [-]

It's really hard to tell whether money spent on prevention was worthwhile, after the fact. We would certainly be complaining if we'd spent $308 billion and everything did crash.

The Wall Street Journal editorial would be more impressive to me if it wasn't written in 2003. If it's so bloody obvious to them, why wasn't that editorial written in 1996?

The Y2K problem might have been solved in a more cost-effective manner if folks just fixed things as they broke, but lots of chaos would have ensued in the mean time. It's not like it was a non-problem. More like noticing you're spending more than you optimally should on car insurance.