GOOD PEOPLE OF DEEP SPACE 13, HARKEN TO MY WARNING. YOU MUST BE VIGILANT AGAINST MISINFORMATION THAT HAS BEEN CIRCULATING REGARDING THE SO-CALLED Y100K BUG. I HAVE PERSONALLY BEEN FORWARDED SIX SEPARATE MESSAGE CHAINS ABOUT IT AND HAD TWO STUDENTS APPROACH ME AFTER CLASS TO INQUIRE WHETHER THE PROBLEM IS REAL.
AS YOU ARE NO DOUBT AWARE, AT THE END OF THE CURRENT CALENDAR YEAR THE STARDATE COUNT WILL REACH 100,000, LEADING SOME ALARMISTS TO SPECULATE THAT WIDESPREAD COMPUTER FAILURES WILL DISRUPT STARBASE AND FLEET OPERATIONS, UP TO AND INCLUDING CRITICAL SYSTEMS SUCH AS NAVIGATION, LIFE SUPPORT, AND MATTER/ANTIMATTER REACTION CONTROL. THIS IS, OF COURSE, QUITE SILLY! A DEFECT LIKE THIS WOULD WREAK HAVOC FAR BEYOND THE 38TH FLEET, AS THE LCARS OPERATING SYSTEM IS USED BY TRILLIONS OF SENTIENT LIFEFORMS THROUGHOUT THE ALPHA AND BETA QUADRANTS. THE POTENTIAL DEATH TOLL OF SUCH A FAULT WOULD BE CATASTROPHIC, DEVASTATING THE FEDERATION AND ITS TECHNOLOGY-SHARING ALLIES ON AN UNPRECEDENTED SCALE. FORTUNATELY THERE IS NO CHANCE OF THIS OCCURRING AND EVERYONE SHOULD REMAIN CALM.
YOU SEE, WHAT THESE DOOMSAYERS FAIL TO RECOGNIZE IS THE INSIGNIFICANCE OF AN ADDITIONAL BASE-TEN DIGIT IN THE STORAGE AND COMPUTATION OF STARDATES. THIS DATA TYPE HAS BEEN A 128-BIT FLOATING-POINT NUMBER SINCE LCARS V21.X ROLLED OUT IN THE 2370S, WHICH PHASED OUT USE OF OLDER NUMBER FORMATS EVEN WHERE THE ADDITIONAL PRECISION WAS NOT STRICTLY NECESSARY. A FLOATING-POINT NUMBER FORMAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO STORE EITHER VERY LARGE NUMBERS OR VERY PRECISE NUMBERS – BUT NOT BOTH AT THE SAME TIME! THE STARDATE DATA TYPE INCLUDES 1 SIGN BIT, 15 EXPONENT WIDTH BITS, AND 112 (ACTUALLY 113 BUT IT’S COMPLICATED) MANTISSA (AKA SIGNIFICAND) BITS, WITH A MAXIMUM VALUE OF 1.1897314953572317650857593266280070162 × 10^4932. THIS IS LARGE ENOUGH TO COUNT TIME WELL PAST THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE AND ERASURE OF EVERY LAST SHRED OF EVIDENCE THAT YOU, I, OR LIFE ITSELF EVER EXISTED. SO YOU SEE, THERE IS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.
ALL THIS BASELESS PANIC MONGERING MUST END. STARFLEET TECHNOLOGY IS DESIGNED AND BUILT BY THE FINEST MINDS IN THE GALAXY AND IT WOULD BE ABSURD TO IMAGINE A COMPLETE BREAKDOWN OF ESSENTIAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND EVENTUALLY THE SOCIAL ORDER THAT UPHOLDS OUR VERY CIVILIZATION DUE TO THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF A SINGLE DECIMAL POINT. GO FORTH AND SPREAD THE WORD: THE Y100K BUG IS A MYTH AND WE CAN ALL CONTINUE TRUSTING THE TECHNOLOGY WE DEPEND UPON WITH OUR VERY LIVES.
//SIGNED//
tuq cargh qaStaHvIS ghIm h’ajah, shal puqbe’
H’ajah, daughter of Shal, of House Cargh in exile
Adjunct Professor, DS13 Academy Annex