The Y2K crisis is a "secular apocalypse" according to Richard Landes, a professor of history and director of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University
Landes has been tracking the Year 2000 and other millennial predictions for years.
"It has two elements that make it different from religious apocalypse," he says. "At least at the rhetorical level, it appeals entirely to scientific projections and deals with material phenomena.
"On the other hand, unlike religious apocalypse, there is no redemption -- there is no heaven and hell."
Landes says it is inevitable that the level of rhetoric and alarm, which already has risen, will continue to escalate. Different people are predisposed to react to the same predictions in different ways.
He defines the most alarmist voices as "roosters," and those on the opposite end, who think everything will be taken care of as "owls."
"The position of the owl, its preference, is not to talk about it," Landes says. "The only thing that brings them out is when the rooster starts winning the battle of public discourse."
