I read all those stories about what could happen as well. I'm an electrical engineer with an emphasis on programming by degree, and a systems engineer since 88. So I understand the whole issue from ROMs to compilers and the issue with source code.

IMO the whole thing was blown out of proportion to make a lot of money off of scared governments and big companies who didn't know better.

Yes, the examples you list were all real: and a miniscule portion of the world that was relatively easy to fix.

To end on something I 100% agree with is your statement I quoted above. The difference between "a lot of scammers made the situation worse" and "the whole thing is a hoax" is for me huge. You are (IMO) 100% correct.

I see it like the pandemic. A whole lot of scammers made a shitton of money scaring people about the problem. That does NOT mean that Covid was a hoax or should not have been taken seriously. I fear (like with Y2K) that a future outbreak will lead to a whole lot more dead people because people won't take is seriously after how badly Covid was managed.