What threat does the Year 2038 problem pose to our computers?

About this episode

Millennials - how well, if at all, do you remember the Y2K bug hype? Back in the 1990s, everyone was freaking out about computers crashing when the clock struck midnight on January 1st, 2000.  That was because when computers were first built back in the mid-20th century, they stored years with only two digits instead of four, due to memory limitations. It was feared that when the clock ticked over from '99' to '00' in the year 2000, computers wouldn't recognise the new century and might revert to '1900'. In the end, it turned out to be much ado about nothing - the widely predicted chaos didn’t materialise. But fast forward two decades later, and some people say we're looking at another potential computer meltdown on January 19, 2038. And at 3 hours, 14 minutes and 7 seconds past midnight, to be precise. Why is 2038 the new date to watch out for? Is there any way to avoid this? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: Why are some people constantly sexually aroused ? Why are we afraid of the dark? Why do people consider the number seven lucky? A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices