eli5: 2039 32 bit integer overflow

Question

eli5: 2039 32 bit integer overflow

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Answer 1

The way most computers store time is by counting the number of seconds since Jan 1 1970. But they can only store numbers up to 32 (binary) digits. One of the digits is actually being used to store whether it’s a negative number, so there’s actually only 31 digits. That means computers just eventually run out of room to keep counting.

Fortunately, computers have already moved to 64 bits, so they’ve doubled the number of digits they can use.