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2038: Only 21 years away

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Re: 2038: Only 21 years away

#181

Post by tormeh »

__jal wrote: post #171
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely these sorts of errors in major systems are already being/have already been addressed - for healthcare for example a search for which members of a GP's practice are going to be pensioners in 2040 is going to error badly? Strikes me that the time to address them was shortly after the millennium bug.

If you were around for the millennium bug, then surely you remember how many people waited until about October, '99 to start looking for problems. If you think those people went looking for another problem 38 years away to fix... If this class of business is not seeing a problem this minute, it isn't a bug. And it won't be a serious-enough bug to spend money on until whatever workarounds they can think of start havin…

>experience with humans

So true. That said, thinking 38 years into the future is usually not sensible for most businesses, because it's very possible that they're bankrupt before then. Thinking 21 years into the future also offers poor ROI for the same reason.

Re: 2038: Only 21 years away

#182

Post by rzzzt »

nsxwolf wrote: post #120
AlexC04 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you've trademarked the term "epochalypse" because it is really catchy! I love it.

I will be just 5 years away from retirement, so I will use this as an opportunity to shore up my 401k. Of course, the singularity will be here by then and fix it for us just before turning us all into paper clips, yada yada. I will advertise with the slogan "Epochalypse... NOW."

2038: Odyssey 2.5

Re: 2038: Only 21 years away

#183

Post by jessaustin »

narrator wrote: post #163
DannyB2 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My retirement planning is to work on the Y10K problem. When the year 9997 comes along, everyone is going to start worrying about the rollover to five digit years. In about the year 9995 I will start seriously brushing up on my COBOL.

Yes, I know some of us will never retire. 8000 years in the future career planning is an interesting thing to think of though. 8000 years ago the only thing that was going on was some neolithic agriculture. Domestication of the Jungle Fowl (modern day chicken) in India and the beginning of irrigated agriculture in Sumeria were probably the biggest news items of that millennium. I guess someone from 8000 years ago cou…

Yes, technology is subject to the Lindy Effect. [0] It's a good reason to learn both Unix and farming.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect

Re: 2038: Only 21 years away

#185

Post by devcpp »

mikesickler wrote: post #127
antirez wrote: post #24

Using a 64 bit timestamp will only move the problem 292 million years forward, so probably the best solution is to use a variable length field.

Wikipedia says 292 Billion years forward: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

Then I guess it's wrong.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=years+in+(2%5E64)%2F2+...

Re: 2038: Only 21 years away

#186

Post by jabl »

jentulman wrote: post #131
antirez wrote: post #24

Using a 64 bit timestamp will only move the problem 292 million years forward, so probably the best solution is to use a variable length field.

At which point we'll all still be too distracted by deciding which JavaScript build system to use.

Maybe we can build a DNN (or by that time, an ultra-mega-hyper-DNN) to choose for us?

Re: 2038: Only 21 years away

#188

Post by cdelsolar »

tyingq wrote: post #134
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but that's a protocol issue. Single graybeard devs aren't going to be paid to fix that. The people who run ntp are going to push out a new protocol way before 2038. Even if there are issues, more than likely they'll be able to handle it internally. OO programming isn't going anywhere and modern languages and concepts are easier to work with than piles of undocumented COBOL from Y2K. They won't be calling you wit…

Right, but at a high level, I'm answering why there might be money in consulting on this later. There will be Fortune 500 companies that have old ntp clients running somewhere in 2038...pretty much guaranteed. They'll also have apps with 32 time_t structures running as well, database columns that overflow, etc. Or maybe they won't, but aren't sure. You sell them a service that audits all of those things, scripts that…

The NTP issue will actually surface in 2036, so your consultancy better be up and ready 2 years early!

Re: 2038: Only 21 years away

#189

Post by jabl »

twic wrote: post #68
keithlfrost wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, using a 64 bit integer to count seconds moves the problem 292 billion years forward, and we can probably let the Omega Point handle it from there.

On the other other hand, getting greedy and using a 64 bit integer to count nanoseconds only moves the problem 448 years forwards. That's long enough to seem like it's perfectly safe, but short enough that it might just not be.

libuv, which sits underneath node.js, uses 64-bit nanosecond timestamps. And by that time, everything will be javascript.

THE END IS NIGH1111!!!!!

Re: 2038: Only 21 years away

#190

Post by Walkman »

The problem is not with developers or tech savvy people. Everyome will know about this by then and solutions will be applied. The problem is with end users, who will only realize this after the shit hits the fan and their fridge will go crazy or there will be a car crash.
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