The preparedness paradox is the proposition that if a society or individual acts effectively to mitigate a potential disaster such as a pandemic, natural disaster or other catastrophe so that it causes less harm, the avoided danger will be perceived as having been much less serious because of the limited damage actually caused. The paradox is the incorrect perception that there had been no need for careful preparation as there was little harm, although in reality the limitation of the harm was due to preparation.
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Historical perspective can also contribute to the preparedness paradox. From the point of view of historians after the Year 2000 problem, the preventative action taken has been described as an “overreaction”, instead of a successful effort to prepare for an upcoming problem.
Question, why? What’s so significant about 2099?
Not sure if this is sarcasm, but I’ll answer just in case!
It’s referring to 1999. The Y2K scare.
A classmate’s father withdrew his life savings in gold and sat with it in his living room, to avoid loosing everything.
Ah yes, the Y2K scare, one of the more overblown social panics.
Tbf, if it weren’t for the work of thousands of software engineers and the like it would have been quite bad actually.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preparedness_paradox