Have you heard the latest doomsday scenario? In thirty years, the internet will stop working! Apparently, a bug similar to the millennium bug will affect Unix-based systems, like those that run the tubes, in the year 2038. The bug, being dubbed the "2038 bug," arises because Unix-based systems store the time as a signed 32-bit integer, in seconds, from midnight on January 1 1970. And the latest time that can be represented in that format, by the Posix standard, is 3:14 AM on January 19, 2038. After that, times will wrap around and be represented as a negative number.
And then what happens?
Programs will fail, of course. Since they will see times not as being in 2038 but rather in 1901, erroneous calculations and decisions will occur. Don't believe it? Check Wikipedia!
The End?
Before mass hysteria sets in, let's all remember that we have years, decades even, to deal with this latest programming glitch.
And as for the internet?
Well, I'm pretty sure that self-improving Artificial Intelligences will be running the world by then, so we probably don't need to worry too much about this.
