Y2K conference info excerpt & link
gwu.edu
excerpt-
Comments by Professor Stuart Umpleby on the July Conference on Y2K at
George Washington University
The y2k conference at GW in late July, which was organized by Paula
Gordon, was a very educational event for those who attended. My conclusion
is that key officials still do not understand the problem and hence are not
preparing adequately. For example, Federal Reserve System Governor Roger
Ferguson is aware of the liquidity problem (bank runs) but not the loan
portfolio problem -- if a lot of companies cannot function and hence cannot
repay loans, banks are in jeopardy. He is the Fed governor in charge of
increasing awareness of y2k among bankers! At the close, he said that the
discussion had been useful....
In the session on nuclear power, I was not reassured by the replies from
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the nuclear industry. The
nuclear industry apparently views the questions raised by nuclear activists
as the same issues they have raised for years. It is not clear that the
industry and the NRC see y2k as a special time with increased risks.
In the panel on education the speakers from MIT and Penn State described
how their universities are fixing internal equipment. I was the only one who
connected y2k to the education, research, and public service missions of
universities. With very, very few exceptions this pattern holds across the
country.
The majority of officials seem to be expecting disruptions at the level of 1,2,or 3.
This is the future they are planning for. If disruptions turn out to be at the level of
5 or greater, their organizations will be unprepared. There is a saying, "Hope for
the best, prepare for the worst." Regarding y2k we are hoping for the best and
preparing for the best.
I did not expect that at this late date the level of public and official concern with
y2k would be at such a low level. Yagmur Denizhan in Turkey recently told me
about a Navajo proverb, "It is not possible to awaken someone who is
pretending to be asleep."
I heard the following quotation by Albert Camus at a conference in Germany last week.
"They were able to do so much, but they dared to do so little."
It reminded me of what Paula Gordon has been saying about government officials.
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