The Origin of the Year 2000 Date Problem: an alternative hypothesis

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the primary origin of the year 2000 date problem, in which many computer-based systems may fail because they cannot correctly interpret two-digit year dates which lie in and after the year 2000. The paper proposes a hypothesis within a cultural anthropological framework that the fundamental origin of the problem lay in a pre-existing, commonplace norm of Western culture - the pervasive use of two-digit year dates. This cultural practice set Western society on a collision course with the technology of the future. The cultural norm underpinned and influenced the actions taken within the IT industry from the 1960s onwards, which laid the physical foundation for the problem.