Another Y2K Analogy
The “brains” of our post-industrial information economy are vast collections of software. Much of this software has a design flaw (though I prefer to describe it as a missing requirement). The bulk of this flawed software is undergoing rather heavy, hurried modification, within a compressed time-frame. There are those who say Y2K is not brain surgery, but, in a way, that's exactly what it is...
Incredible as it might sound, imagine a world where it was announced one day that a large percentage of that world's population was going to succumb to a certain brain disorder on a known future date. The brain disorder's chief characteristic is that one suddenly experiences a bizarre form of temporal misperception -- at all times, the person has a intractable belief that he is living exactly one hundred years earlier than the current date. Not all people would get this disease. Most of the young children would be OK, with only minor effects, and even some of the adults would be fine. However, most adults and nearly all of the elderly are at risk.
Interestingly, unbelievably, it is said that the disorder is due to a flaw in the basic structure of the brain. The disease will affect most of one's autonomic functions. The lower brain functions of the medulla and the mid-brain functions of the cerebellum will certainly be affected, as will large parts of the higher brain functions of the cerebrum. The only truly reliable cure involves small incisions into the cranium and inspection of each of the brain's synapses, modifying those that are suspected of leading to the brain disorder.
For most patients, the suspect synapses are actually fairly easy to find and modify, but a few will likely be overlooked, as there are so many. Also, some synapses will be modified that shouldn't have been, some will not have been modified correctly, and some modified synapses will cause unusual side-effects, disrupting normal brain operation in novel ways. For these reasons, following the treatment, it is highly advised that the patient is isolated for a time while undergoing recuperative therapy, insuring that the operation was a success, with no ill side-effects. Almost predictably, the entire treatment takes longer than the average patient has time for and is fairly expensive.
It turns out that there exists a small army of doctors capable of performing this operation, as it is a fairly routine procedure. Unfortunately, even though the announcement of the disease was made years earlier, people did not immediately begin to apply for the corrective procedure. Some thought the whole notion ridiculous, some figured they would wait until later, some didn't want to pay for the surgery at that time, and still others merely assumed a vaccination or pill would be developed by someone, providing a quick, cheap, and painless cure. The net effect of all this procrastination is that the doctors are now unable to treat all patients by the deadline, and some patients will receive treatment that is far less than thorough. In many cases, it is even decided only the most important parts of the brain will be treated and the "extra" parts discarded!
The predicted effects of the disease are almost funny. When asked their age, the very, very elderly patient will say “three” or “five”, whereas others come up with answers like “negative 56”! These patients will always sign a check one hundred years early. If the check is on a pre-printed form, they will actually scratch out the century and write what they believe is the “correct” one. When shown documents and contracts they have signed and dated only a few years earlier, they are amazed, insisting that those “future” documents are all forgeries, even though accompanied by their signatures. Those unaffected by the disease will find interaction with those that are affected very frustrating. More insidiously, unless the healthy keep their distance, they become “infected” to varying degrees. They uncontrollably begin thinking the time-distorted thoughts of the afflicted, even though their brains are fine.
As one might imagine, those who have not taken corrective action become potential liabilities to society, depending on their particular occupation. Many of the workers wake up in the morning and, since they haven't even been born yet, decide to go back to sleep. Others don't awaken at all! Some drive to work, but then determine that their assignments are already done for the next hundred years and take the day off. A few self-directed souls go at their work most earnestly, making appointments with colleagues ninety-nine years and eleven months ago or creating short term loans that will be paid off a year ago and for which the bank will send the borrower a sizable check every month. Still, those who come down with the disease can be cured, as previously explained, but they will need to be gone for quite a while. Meanwhile, their jobs will not be performed at all, or inadequately at best.
A distant observer of all this can only wonder: Will all potential patients be notified and will they seek treatment? Will the treatment be adequate? When the disease strikes the untreated and poorly treated, will the ill workers be noticed and removed soon enough, before they can cause any serious damage or spread infection? Will the healthy be able to keep things rolling along in the meantime? Can or will all the ill be attended to quickly enough? Will the doctors be able to heal everyone under potentially adverse conditions? What is the fate of those who could not afford the treatment or who are beyond treatment due to hardened synapses? What does the future hold for a world where most of the inhabitants have (or should have) undergone a synchronized brain treatment?
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