ISKCON Y2K AWARENESS & PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM
> Dear Kaunteya prabhu
>
> Hare Krsna. I have no idea what response the GBC will
make. Any ideas
> should not only go the GBC but also
other leaders, temples and projects.
> But we need two things:-
>
> 1.
A convincing presentation of the effects of the Y2K bug.
> 2.
A simple set of practical steps each temple and project can do.
>
> Your servant
> Akhandadhi das
Dear Akhandadi Prabhu,
please accept my humble obeisances, all
glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thank you for your letter, quoted above.
Regarding point 1, of course what is
convincing for some might not be as convincing for others. On the
"Apocalypse 1999?" conference we did post some articles from the
internet and from other devotees that I and others find convincing. I recently
wrote an article for "Hare Krishna World" trying to convey the
seriousness of the situation. I am enclosing it here, at the end of the text.
Please let me know what do you think.
Regarding point 2, "A simple set of
practical steps each temple and project can do", it would not be difficult
to list a number of things temples and individuals could do to prepare. The
steps will depends on the present situation of each particular project. In some
places the focus will be in stepping up efforts at self-sufficiency, whereas
elsewhere we need more readical contingency plans, such a having "escape
routes and destinations" for temples in cities that might become plain
hellish when the worst hits.
The general recommendations deal with:
* storing food and water.
* storing non-hybrid seeds.
* storing equipment
* storing medicines
* storing literature on self-sufficiency
* security arrangements (getting weapons
and the like)
* establishing relations with the locals
for cooperation and reciprocal protection
* establishing relations with the
government (when applicable) to be part or relief work
* consider the need of continuing the
preaching (storing books, etc.)
* etc. (others might comment and add to
the list).
Thank you for your personal interest.
Below I enclose my article, that could
possibly to published in HKW of
January-February 1999. I was limited by
the lenght (I could only use 1500
words), there are certainly many other
aspects I would have liked to
include.
your servant, Kaunteya das
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I and Y2K
I first heard of the possible
consequences of the millennium bug in May 98. What’s this bug? Many mainframe
computers (the big ones) are programmed to handle years as a two-digit number
(98 instead of 1998, for instance). On midnight of 31st December 1999, the
clock rolls over to 1st January 2000 and the computer faces the date
"00". How the machine is going to react? Either it takes
"00" to mean 1900, generating all sorts of wrong calculations and
conclusions, thus creating chaos; or it takes "00" as a negative
number and simply shuts itself down, creating even more chaos. This can have
unsuspected, terrible consequences for human life on this planet.
Since I joined ISKCON, in 1980, I am
hearing predictions about impending doom: "Next year there will be a
world-war!"; "In 1994 Italy will disappear under the sea!" and
the like. My tendency is not to take too seriously such forecasts. Then why
should I take Y2K seriously? One basic difference is that in Y2K (short for
"Year 2000") we are not talking of obscure prophesies, we are talking
of machines.
In May 1998, therefore, for the first
time I hear that the computer failure of handling dates can generate a domino
effect producing a temporary world economic collapse, serious social unrest,
widespread violence, famine. Could that be possible? I needed to do some
research. On the Internet I found that increasing numbers of computer programmers
take the millennium bug as the likely cause of "the end of the world as we
know it", to use a common expression. Modern society is interconnected in
myriads of ways through computers. Everything is interdependent (and dependent
on computers). If computers fail we might find ourselves without running water,
electricity, fuel, phones, banks, food, and with the money reduced to useless
paper due to a worldwide financial meltdown. Here what the professionals have
to say. Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, well known in mainframe circles, writes:
"A lot of companies will go bankrupt... we will be stuck in a
depression... This case may not seem too bad, until you start thinking about
the people that will starve to death, or die from lack of medical care. Much of
modern agriculture depends on artificial fertilizers and insecticides, and is
energy intensive, both directly and indirectly. Expect wars to be fought over
water... In the wake of a social collapse, weapons of mass destruction could
fall into the hands of small bands of terrorists..."
Infomagic (his net name) is another
programmer with decades of experience. He writes: "[They] say that Y2K
isn't a big problem and our economy is so robust and our programmers are just
so brilliant that we can easily fix any problems that are left. They are dead
wrong, as you will be if you believe them...
...the global economy really is in deep
trouble and none of the economic gimmicks are going to work.
There is nothing we can do to avert this
problem... the biggest, deepest, disaster in human history... We must now make
plans and preparations to ensure our own personal survival..."
Nunja Biznec (another net name):
"...the collapse of banking, the destruction of the division of labor will
be a devastating devolution of what we have come to expect in terms of how
society operates. ...for the last 50 years we in the west have enjoyed a bubble
of prosperity and peace unparralleled in history. never before in recorded
history have such a large portion of the world's population been blessed with
such luxurious conditions. War, poverty, disease and ignorance have been the
normal state of affairs for the vast majority throughout the annals of time.
Our "summer" is drawing to a close. The exceptional long run of good
times is fading, and the shadows of winter are on the horizon. ...get out of
the city. get out of the city. get out of the city. get out of the city."
Cory Amasaki, 25 years spent programming
mainframes: "Y2K will take much of the efficiency out of civilization.
...Y2K will be at least an economic earthquake. ...This will not be like
anything we've ever seen before. I talk... with programmers with serious
skillsets and expertise. Here and there, a few heavy hitters believe that Y2K
will not be like Godzilla stepping on your house but for every one of those,
I've found 10 or so who are breaking into a cold sweat and are muttering about
ammo, a cabin in Montana... This gang, the gear-heads who literally keep the
Fortune 5000 running, is running scared."
If the people who understand about big
computers are scared, shouldn’t we be concerned too? I kept researching the
issue and I only found more bad news: there are not enough programmers to deal
with the millennium bug (in USA alone they are short of more than 300,000
programmers); there is not enough time to fix the bug; most of the countries in
the world have done next to nothing to fix the problem; there are billions of
embedded chips (controlling from oil-rigs to heart pace-makers) that can fail
and that cannot be re-programmed (they can only be changed, by hand, one by
one); radars could mistakenly signal, for instance, that a nuclear attack is on
(oops); almost all seeds are hybrid and cannot be re-used (you need to buy new
seeds after every harvest); etc., etc., etc. You get the idea.
You might want to do your own research.
You could start with this web site: www.garynorth.com, it is packed with
information, divided by catergory (introduction, programmers’ views, embedded
chips, military, and so on).
I became convinced that there are tough
times ahead, very tough times, and I felt the moral obligation to tell the
devotees. I wasn’t planning to start an email conference on Y2K, but nobody
else did and so I started it. I was planning to call the conference something
like "1999 World Collapse?" but from COM Sweden they told me that the
conference name could not start with a number. I thought of using "A"
as the first letter so that it would come near the top of one’s conference’s
list. I asked a Gurukula graduate what word should I use. He said:
"Apocalypse". I liked it because it gets a reaction. It might sound
garish for a Vaisnava forum, but most people do not understand what
"Y2K" or "millennium bug" means anyway. I added
"1999" (not 2000) to "Apocalypse", to signal that the
trouble is expected already next year (as you read this, it has become
"THIS" year). I added a question mark to give a feeling of
uncertainty, "Apocalypse 1999?" (will it really happen?). We might
soon have to remove the question mark.
If you have access to email you can join
the "Apocalypse 1999?" conference. We have already more than 500
members, including many leaders, and more devotees are joining daily. We
present evidence that things are going to be very bad very soon. We discuss what devotees can do to prepare,
to protect their families and their Deities by storing food, getting ready to
depend on the land, buying non-hybrid seeds, spend the money on supplies as
long as that paper is worth anything. We discuss how this impending disaster is
a great chance to seriously working toward self-sufficiency. We hear from all
over the world of temples taking the issue seriously and getting ready. And,
yes, we talk about the great preaching opportunities that Y2K offers (to those
who survive). To join the conference write me at: kaunteya.jps@com.bbt.se.
Someone might ask: "Shouldn’t we
depend on Krishna?" Yes, but depending on Krishna doesn’t mean neglecting
to prepare for tough times due to laziness. Arjuna did not walk into Kuruksetra
in underwear; he first collected weapons from all over the universe. Don't
mistake "apathy" for "surrender".
My present personal plans? I am
travelling (as long as planes fly and I can buy a ticket), giving courses on
Bhakti-vriksha preaching, a powerful system of congregational development.
Devotees should learn now about this approach. It will give tremendous results
in the post-Y2K world. When things gets really bad I hope to be able to make it
to Mayapur, because I am already based there since 10 years, because it is the
holiest of places and because it is in a fertile countryside.
Someone might ask: "Where is Srila
Prabhupada in all this?" Here are just three quotations from our
Founder-Acarya.
Letter of the 22nd June 1973:
"In short, this material world is a
very precarious place therefore we should always chant Hare Krsna and seek
Krsna's protection." (But do not forget that if you are a Temple
President, a GBC, a mother, a
father, or a preacher, you also have the
duty to care for the safety of those who depend on you).
Lecture, SB 5.5.3, Vrndavana 10/25/76:
"...if you have got actual
commodity, grains and cows, then you can eat in any circumstances. Never mind
war is going on. You don't care. You get sufficient food. …This paper currency
is useless. If the things are going on nicely it has value but in times of
crisis it has no value."
Morning Walk, Delhi, November 29, 1975:
Prabhupada: (break) ...zation will
collapse very soon, all over the world. It will collapse. ...this civilization
will collapse. People will become mad, being harassed in so many ways.
Your servant, Kaunteya das