Targeted to hip, "alternative" Germans (first
presented at Berlin's Roter Salon and Glashaus), this presentation examines
Y2K in the context of the computer industry overall. The current craze
for all things computer (including an occult fascination with the crazy
scenarios of Hans Moravec, Marvin Minsky, et al.) is compared with
America's love affair with the automobile, engineered by GM via super-futuristic
scenarios (in World's Fairs, etc.) between 1930 and 1970. We maintain
that the rave and techno scenes' futuristic imagery is the indirect result
of a similar campaign by today's technology companies, and that hipster
enthusiasm for the Y2K Bug as redeemer is misguided at best. We end on
an ominous note: what could be the computer industry's counterpart to
GM's destruction of America's public transportation? (See Die
Tageszeitung for more.)