Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

science.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 318 posts

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#101

Post by rukuu001 »

jmward01 wrote: post #50

The obvious methodology at work here is 'fire everyone then hopefully re-hire only what is blindingly obviously needed'. There are many, many problems with this approach in a business setting but even more from a governmental setting. The first, and what should be obvious to anyone with an ounce of empathy, is that these are real people who's lives are being toyed with. It isn't like you are trying out a new business…

I think your second point is the most revealing: government can’t get away with externalising the costs of unemployment the way a private company can.

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#102

Post by otherme123 »

yoyohello13 wrote: post #87
lostlogin wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> an indictment of capitalism. Capitalism is the least bad system we have tried.

Therefore we should never talk bad about it or look in to alternatives.

[flagged]

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#103

Post by jmyeet »

Cruely and revenge upon one's perceived ideological foes are the core organizing principles of this administration. This is a purge, similar to that of Jews of the Germany in the 1930s. The NIH in particular and civil servants in general are just one facet of this. The purge of academic ranks is another (eg [1]).

What makes this possible is hyper-individualism, decades (if not centuries) of attack on any sort of collectivism and the fomented division of ordinary people based on race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender or religion. I'm reminded of this LBJ quote:

    “If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
It echoes fears of the former slave-owning class in Reconstruction that poor white people would unify with freed slaves.

It's wild to me that we're reliving Nazi Germany less than a century later while victims of the Nazi regime, direct first-hand witnesses, are still alive.

[1]: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/3/29/harvard-cmes-di...

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#104

Post by intelVISA »

ineedasername wrote: post #34

Yep, the ‘ol ”my finger slipped and I accidentally pushed ‘select * from table;’ instead of a complex and thoughtful set of filters” That type. It happens, we’ve all been there

I doubt the outcome would've been much different had they used their complex and thoughtful set of filters (sys.rand)

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#105

Post by croisillon »

mrkstu wrote: post #79
euroderf wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well then, that's pretty much an indictment of capitalism.

Communism doesn't fare any better under that rubric. Any unbridled 'ism' taken to its extreme tends to fail most human centered tests.

Like athletism for example?

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#106

Post by somenameforme »

Do people just want to rage? Because a lot of what is being said here, and even the article's headline are not supported by what the article says. In particular:

- The workers were never fired. They were put on paid leave.

- They were fully reinstated less than 24 hours after it became clear a mistake had been made.

- The headline is also misleading. The reason for the firing was 'based on administrative codes that “may not have been intentional.”' So it was a "coding" error in the sense of administrative codes, not programming.

The way people are responding to this, and then hyperbolizing each other, just looks like mob mentality. I'm certain this will be downvoted for the exact same reason. People don't want facts.

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#107

Post by e40 »

grues-dinner wrote: post #70

> A computer can never be held accountable, therefore a computer must never make a management decision. It was true in 1979, it's true today. Blaming "coding" for this is an explicit admission that someone is shirking their accountability.

These people are shameless and will lie at the drop of a hat to get out from under any responsibility.

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#108

Post by cptroot »

somenameforme wrote: post #106

Do people just want to rage? Because a lot of what is being said here, and even the article's headline are not supported by what the article says. In particular: - The workers were never fired. They were put on paid leave. - They were fully reinstated less than 24 hours after it became clear a mistake had been made. - The headline is also misleading. The reason for the firing was 'based on administrative codes that “…

For what it's worth, if you get put on a RIF plan then you treat it like a firing. Them being on paid leave isn't them not being fired yet, it's severance.

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#109

Post by bee_rider »

xyst wrote: post #18

It’s wild how America is just complacent with the destruction of the federal government. We see all of these red flags across the agencies yet there’s minimal uproar. I have seen a few protests (50501, recently) but nothing that stops this wanton destruction. - $6.6T sell off in market due to Orange administration trade war in just _2 days_ - USAID decimated - US trade partners lost - Federal agency head count losses…

There were some pretty big protests Saturday. But, realistically, we aren’t going to have the sort of protests that, like, overthrow governments in the US. We tend to have rallies and marches rather than riots and rebellions. These are really

1) exercise in venting/speaking out/awareness raising

2) networking events for activists.

Eventually the activists and movements aim to get votes in the next election. Get funding for the opposition party’s legal fights and campaigns. That sort of thing.

So, for the most part it’ll be the Trump & Friends show until the midterms at least. It isn’t complacency I think, I mean the opportunity to pick an alternative happened in the past. Is it complacency to live in the outcomes of what has already happened?

Re: After 'coding error' triggers firings, top NIH scientists called back to work

#110

Post by SlightlyLeftPad »

Freedom2 wrote: post #75
foobarbecue wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's worse than that. Appears to me that the methodology here is intentional sabotage of the government. When your platform is explictly anti-government (also, explictly anti-empathy, and implictly anti-expert), and someone hands you the government, you smash it, along with the lives of all those losers who dedicated themselves to public service.

Don't forget to say "See! Government doesn't work, we've been right all along!" after you've smashed it.

Exactly, I’m glad you mentioned it because there are many who can’t see through the smoke. This is the long con but I still struggle to understand the motive there, if for nothing else, is it the simple ideal that government should be small? Why go through all the trouble?
Post reply on HN