When we look back at the decade 2000-2009, we may well define it by three crises: the crisis that didn't happen, the crisis that wasn't supposed to happen, and the crisis that we don't realize is happening. We haven't learned the lessons of the first two, and our ignorance of the third may doom us to be slaves to our government, rather than the other way around.
Leading into the changeover from 1999-2000, we faced Y2K, the crisis that didn't happen. Many people thought computers' dates would go from 1999 back to 1900, causing our computer-dominated world to fail: bank accounts disappearing, air-traffic systems (and airplanes) crashing, and everything leading to economic collapse and a return to the Stone Age.
Some scientists told us the world would end, but it didn't. And the solution didn't necessitate everyone throwing out their computers and buying new ones. We should remember this non-crisis when we think about global warming.
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