That's funny. I worked on Y2K as well, starting in Jan 98 until Oct 99. A huge amount of work with thousands of devices to sign off on. It was very real and a lot of issues were averted. Most people think it was all a hoax. Not true.

To somewhat Echo Soundwise's sentiment:
It's not necessarily that Y2K wasn't real... but that there was SO much media hype that you'd think the Earth was going to stop spinning.  
 
In the case of Meltdown, the real-world hit for most desktop-users is so small that it's not worth the worry.
First, make sure you have a current backup (prior to installing the patch and firmware update).
You can then apply the patch... and compare performance.
 
 

I'm looking forward to an asteroid about to hit earth, Bruce Willis and co finally blowing it up and the world is saved.. I can't imagine the backlash... "Ooo it probably wasn't a real threat".. "Ooo it probably would not have done much damage" "Ooo too much mainstream media"..."Oooo fake news believe me folks"...

They did it to Buzz Aldrin..
https://youtu.be/-tvEo68VYik