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Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

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Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#551

Post by rayiner »

mindslight wrote: post #491
rayiner wrote: post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes they do. But often they do not. Look at the appropriations bill for USAID: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/8771... . > UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT > Funds Appropriated To The President > For necessary expenses to carry out the provisions of section 667 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, $1,214,808,000 (increased by $5,000,000) (reduced by $5,000,000), of wh…

You're focused on the money while ignoring the actual motivating legislation of the original Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. From a quick scan: > Under the policy guidance of the Secretary of State, the agency primarily responsible for administering this part should have the responsibility for coordinating all United States development-related activities "Guidance". Not direct command. The primary criteria of the age…

Yes, there’s a whole section on HIV/AIDS, and PEPFAR was quickly resumed! https://za.usembassy.gov/presidents-emergency-plan-for-aids-...

A temporary pause seems squarely within what the executive is allowed to do.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#552

Post by insane_dreamer »

esbranson wrote: post #517
freen wrote: post #244

Modest proposal: hacker news is not the most left leaning of web forums, However, there seems to be a fairly consistent and relatively unanimous view that the actions of the current republican administration are deeply problematic. If you happen to be one of those people who thought that voting for the Republicans was in your best interest, yet you are shocked and horrified by what the Republicans are currently doing…

I did not vote GOP, at least not the president and most offices. I fully expected this outcome, and support it. Despite your accusations, I ask you to consider that it is you who needs to assess your sources of information as well as your political stances. I was previously an avid watcher of PBS NewsHour but stopped due to the constant, obvious propaganda in the 2016 election cycle. WETA and NPR should get defunded…

Which outcome are you supporting exactly? Please explain in what concrete ways these outcomes benefit either the average American, or America's standing in the world, or America's leadership in technological research.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#553

Post by insane_dreamer »

sneak wrote: post #50

Consent matters. There is no worse tyranny than to force someone to pay for something they do not want to buy, simply because you think it would be good for them. I am vehemently pro-research and pro-education, but these tax-funded programs are not it. There must be some meaningful connection to the delivery of value, otherwise this stuff is just public-private wealth transfer. This seems obvious to me. Why should th…

Gov subsidies of research is one of the smartest public investments because it drives growth in new areas, ultimately opening up new companies/jobs, and allowing the country to keep pace with, or lead, competitors who will otherwise capture that market. Or the research improves medical care which improves the quality of life of citizens.

If you really want to reduce government subsidies, start with the defense industry, which is fully funded by your tax dollars. And it really accomplishes very little for the country, other than the scientific research it funds (which is actually substantial and which often results in breakthroughs with non-military applications).

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#554

Post by acdha »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #529
acdha wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“I need to lose weight, so I cut off my fingertips. Why is everyone saying that’s bad?” If you want to cut the federal deficit, we need to restore tax rates to the level they were at around the turn of the century - rich people were fine back then, nobody gave up because their yacht only had a small helicopter – and reduce spending on the big areas which are the only ones where it’s mathematically possible for cuts t…

Well that's a nice straw man. I think a more apt analogy would be I need to lose weight so I'm giving up the after-dinner mint I have after every meal. It's a start.

What makes you think it’s a straw man? Do you think that research, food safety, nuclear safety, compliance with legal requirements, avoiding lawsuits for not breaking contracts, etc. are not more important to the government than your mint is to you? We’ve seen DOGE botch all of those and more recently, and the cost is greater than the savings.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#555

Post by esbranson »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #552
esbranson wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not vote GOP, at least not the president and most offices. I fully expected this outcome, and support it. Despite your accusations, I ask you to consider that it is you who needs to assess your sources of information as well as your political stances. I was previously an avid watcher of PBS NewsHour but stopped due to the constant, obvious propaganda in the 2016 election cycle. WETA and NPR should get defunded…

Which outcome are you supporting exactly? Please explain in what concrete ways these outcomes benefit either the average American, or America's standing in the world, or America's leadership in technological research.

Outcomes for America; other countries' anti-American propaganda will soon turn on themselves, much like it did the EU.

The slash and burn is not the best, but it's better than dying of starvation. Similarly here, dumping billions and trillions, and billions more, and they cannot even implement Login.gov after being told by Congress. So, unfortunately, fire them all. The feamongering wants people to believe "hydroponics or death", but no, slash and burn at this point. One of the biggest reasons to move quickly is to get ahead of the really, really bad leftist propaganda system, to exploit the news cycle.

Same goes for the billions propping up the world, from research to civilian aid. Whatever we lose, the rest of the world loses more. I would like to see the rest of the first world do something significant, like fill the void, like Europe. But let's not kid ourselves, Russian artillery is going to make their social spending very burdensome.

Even if America stops literally everything, I think we'd still end up supplying more blankets to Ukraine than the rest of Europe combined. Anyone who says Germany or China is going to be more popular needs to put down the Kool-Aid.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#556

Post by insane_dreamer »

jhbadger wrote: post #234
polairscience wrote: post #28

This is true for many programs for reasons that will be hard to understand if you aren't a scientist. The NSF program managers are often pulled out of academia for brief periods of their career to do various tasks as experts. This means they are often probationary. This is the only way to hire people with deep expertise on the topic-du-jour. The trump administration fired in wide swaths many probationary employees at…

And the worst thing is that they may have misunderstood what "probationary employees" were. In federal speak, they are new employees, but the new regime may have thought they were "bad" employees, based on the idea of "probation" in the criminal justice sense.

If it's intentional, then they are deliberately sabotaging the US's leadership in technological research for the sake of looking like they're doing something. Which is a terrible strategy.

If it's unintentional, then DOGE faile the critical thinking test. Doesn't say much for them or their leadership.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#557

Post by insane_dreamer »

whalesalad wrote: post #199
polairscience wrote: post #28

This is true for many programs for reasons that will be hard to understand if you aren't a scientist. The NSF program managers are often pulled out of academia for brief periods of their career to do various tasks as experts. This means they are often probationary. This is the only way to hire people with deep expertise on the topic-du-jour. The trump administration fired in wide swaths many probationary employees at…

The loss of their jobs is all part of gods plan, apparently https://www.mediaite.com/politics/house-republican-tells-fir...

true, except the GOP didn't bother to look up which gods the plan belongs to (turns out its the plan of the Chinese gods)

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#558

Post by insane_dreamer »

esbranson wrote: post #555
insane_dreamer wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which outcome are you supporting exactly? Please explain in what concrete ways these outcomes benefit either the average American, or America's standing in the world, or America's leadership in technological research.

Outcomes for America; other countries' anti-American propaganda will soon turn on themselves, much like it did the EU. The slash and burn is not the best, but it's better than dying of starvation. Similarly here, dumping billions and trillions, and billions more, and they cannot even implement Login.gov after being told by Congress. So, unfortunately, fire them all. The feamongering wants people to believe "hydroponi…

> and they cannot even implement Login.gov after being told by Congress

What are you talking about? I use login.gov all the time. Works well.

> I would like to see the rest of the first world do something significant, like fill the void, like Europe.

Europe may or may not do that. But who know who will? China. Look at what's happened in Africa in the past 20 years. While the US was totally distracted with its "war on terror", China has swooped in. It has struck major deals for access to natural resources, and boosted its influence significantly primarily through infrastructure loans.

> Anyone who says Germany or China is going to be more popular needs to put down the Kool-Aid.

Germany, no. But China will become more popular among developing countries. I'm saying it.

OK, but what I get from the jist of what you're saying is that you want to take down US's dominance on the world scene. I actually think the US' dominance has been detrimental and have no particular love for America, so in that I agree with you. On the other, China and Russia are even worse masters, so I don't see Trump's "let Rome burn" approach ultimately working out well for either the rest of the world, and certainly not America itself.

But the irony is that the vast majority of Trump voters think that he wants to make the US stronger, not weaker. They will be in for a rude awakening.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#559

Post by esbranson »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #558
esbranson wrote: post #555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outcomes for America; other countries' anti-American propaganda will soon turn on themselves, much like it did the EU. The slash and burn is not the best, but it's better than dying of starvation. Similarly here, dumping billions and trillions, and billions more, and they cannot even implement Login.gov after being told by Congress. So, unfortunately, fire them all. The feamongering wants people to believe "hydroponi…

> and they cannot even implement Login.gov after being told by Congress What are you talking about? I use login.gov all the time. Works well. > I would like to see the rest of the first world do something significant, like fill the void, like Europe. Europe may or may not do that. But who know who will? China. Look at what's happened in Africa in the past 20 years. While the US was totally distracted with its "war on…

> China will become more popular among developing countries

Can't wait! That's going to an awful lot of Kool-Aid though to believe that. I recommend sticking to state TV on China's popularity in any given country.

> It has struck major deals for access to natural resources, and boosted its influence significantly primarily through infrastructure loans.

Yeah, maybe we should have given them loans instead of aid. That would've increased our popularity to China-levels for sure. The part about natural resources will also make them popular. Lol. At least we're punking out Europeans for their natural resources instead of Africa.

> take down US's dominance on the world scene

That's illusory. There is no soft power without hard power, and we have it all, and will likely continue for the next four years. We will continue to do what we want, as before.

> They will be in for a rude awakening.

Nothing you've said really affects the US domestic situation negatively. We can get into the price of eggs and tariffs, sure, but.. We're still going to dominate. (Not high-fiving the US, but dissing the world.)

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#560

Post by [deleted] »

teleforce wrote: post #475
peterlada wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is not losing this decade, the scientific gap will add to the growing chasm of future outcomes between the two superpowers.

This reminds me the so called dark ages where western people just conveniently skipped through 1000 years of very productive knowledge of development and contributions from the Arab and Muslim world centered around Toledo, Spain and Baghdad, Iraq as it never happened [1]. The false narative is that it's straight from Greek and Roman era to the Renaissance era as if mathematicians and scientists were just fall asleep…

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