************************************************************** * * * CYBERSPACE * * A biweekly column on net culture appearing * * in the Toronto Sunday Sun * * * * Copyright 1999 Karl Mamer * * Free for online distribution * * All Rights Reserved * * Direct comments and questions to: * * * * * ************************************************************** By now you're probably getting used to writing 1997 on your cheques. True net.heads, however, aren't writing any more cheques because they know the world is going to end on August 29, 1997. Yep. If you haven't seen Terminator 2, rent it. August 29, 1997 is the day T2's world encompassing "Skynet" (clearly an allegory for "Internet") becomes self-aware and nukes the planet. Sure it's silly to stop paying your bills because of one line in a high-grossing flick but people have hunkered down for Armageddon for all kinds of nutty reasons. The current alt.conspiracy du jour is comet Hale-Bopp is a) going to smack into earth or b) an earth-bound spaceship loaded with man- eating lizards is riding its comet tail. People really believe this, helped along by some wired amateur astronomers unable to distinguish between a celestial object and a lens flaw. The approaching new millennium seems like an opportune time for God or forces unknown to wrap everything up. On the net, End Times paranoia is bigger than Jennifer Aniston's haircut (a search at www.hotbot.com returns five times more hits for "Armageddon" than "Jennifer Aniston") but proclaiming the end of the world is nothing particularly new. There's an interesting page at www.novia.net/~todd/rap777.html that offers an amusing list of various end-times movements since Christian times. It is important to note that despite the received wisdom these movements have used to divine the last days, the world has yet to come to an end. If you back track through the URL, you'll discover it's part of something call The Rapture Index. It's one net.head's answer to the subjectivity problem faced by those choosing to ignore Jesus' admonition that the end will come like a "thief in the night". Television, you see, makes it easy to conclude that the world is going to hell. Literally. The author of the Rapture Index has crunched down biblical prophecy and come up with 45 leading indicators you can monitor from the comfort of your bunker in Montana. Oddly enough the indicators includes such terrible omens as peace treaties and liberalism. Dark days indeed. It's not just the apocalyptic Christian set that's preaching doom for the Year 2000 (or "Y2K" as it's known to net.hipsters). Y2K has computer consultants everywhere rubbing their sansabelt slacks extra shiny in anticipation of all the work they're going to get when banking and insurance software crashes on January 1, 2000. The Prophets of Y2K Doom claim unless action is taken about four years ago, lots of important financial software written by punchcard wallopers in the '70s will barf when faced with a two-digit date value of "00." So should you pull your money out of the bank? An interesting clearing house of information of the Y2K problem at www.year2000.com might help you decide.