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The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

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Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#321

Post by sanderjd »

eutropia wrote: post #224

There are people in this thread claiming that Wired "doxxed" these engineers working for Musk dismantling things they don't understand; however didn't Musk publicly mock individual federal employees on his twitter account, drawing the eyes of millions onto random government functionaries for no other reason than to capriciously taunt them about being fired? I hope people condemning the former also condemn the latter.

People who work at the highest levels of our government are public figures. It is the job of reporters to report on who they are and what they're up to.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#322

Post by gtirloni »

tenpies wrote: post #269
billiam wrote: post #183

[flagged]

The Founding Fathers had 18, 20, 21 and 25 year olds in much more important positions. And just like DOGE, they were working in a team with older people too, but that sort of rational framing just doesn't get clicks. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United...

I'm no expert in US history but just looking at the signers list, 3/4 of them were >30yo.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#323

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

blfr wrote: post #143
m463 wrote: post #122

Posts here talk about the legality of this, that what they are doing is not allowed, or that they're doing something naively without understanding. But what is the goal? Maybe what goal to they think they're pursuing? This is hacker news, so I'm asking for an answer without political rhetoric.

They're cutting their opponents' access to federal funds.

Also correct. These programs are seen as funding professional democrats who then vote for more funding

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#324

Post by Buttons840 »

user32489318 wrote: post #210

how is someone’s age relevant? Is a 55 y.o. Software engineer who spent 20 years in a bureaucratic wheel any better than a bright 20yo mind? They both suck in a different way! Writing an entire article with ageism as a center piece is truly pinnacle of American journalism

The age of one person isn't that relevant, you're right about that. The average age of an entire "agency"[0] is relevant though.

[0]: DOGE may not technically be an "agency", but whatever the case, they have and are acting with power equal to that of an agency.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#325

Post by justin66 »

nailer wrote: post #196
breadwinner wrote: post #25

> So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world. ... and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Checks and balances have been neutralized.

> Checks and balances have been neutralized. That seems somewhat inverted - the elected government is creating checks and balances on unelected bureaucrats.

"Checks and balances" is a phrase that applies to the ability of the three coequal branches of government to hold one another in check.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#326

Post by screye »

xnx wrote: post #73

Are such drastic action appropriate given the current state of the US? The US probably hasn't been this economically dominant since after WWII. Feels like Chesterton fences are getting torn up left and right by people too young and incurious to possibly understand why those fences might be there.

USD as reserve currency is a hen that lays golden eggs.

The US maintains monopoly on this free money cheat through goodwill driven manufactured consent, diplomacy, financial bullying and military might. Each subsequent tool being more heavy handed & less preferred than the last. Heavy handed tools while effective, break more than they fix. This prudence sustains Pax Americana.

In 2025 America, good will is at an all-time-low. Mechanisms for classical diplomacy are being actively dismantled by Elon-Trump. Financial bullying is now the cudgel of choice. Pax Americana is under threat.

Post-WW2 peace is among mankind's most remarkable civilizational achievements. It isn't self-evident and it definitely isn't the historic norm. How long until nations start questioning the deal ? How many decades of work is being dismantled within days ?

May be hyperbole, but the locks on Chesterton-Pandora's box are being opened. It might work out, but Elon's aggressiveness seems so unnecessary at a time when the American economy is doing exceedingly well.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#327

Post by zelphirkalt »

mkoryak wrote: post #125
troelsSteegin wrote: post #16

https://doge.gov does not say anything about what the DOGE plan is, and https://www.usds.gov/ is not apparently up to date wrt DOGE. Is there something other than the Executive Order [0] that lays out concretely what DOGE intends to do? This group of engineers is doubtless skilled, but I don't seem them as the decision makers and planners here. [0] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/esta...

Nice, the $ logo is a 22.5kb 375x372 avif file resized to 48x48. That is efficient!

Only top engineers at work there. Pahhaha!

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#328

Post by baobabKoodaa »

hondo77 wrote: post #150
ian_d wrote: post #108

Elon is also now claiming to have "deleted" 18F ( https://18f.gsa.gov/ ): https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886498750052327520

The so-called Department of Government Efficiency has deleted a group that was devoted solely to making the government more efficient. Makes perfect sense, in Trumpistan logic.

[flagged]

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#329

Post by cma »

daedrdev wrote: post #239
h197BQcV wrote: post #114

They have interesting pedigrees: Meta, Palantir, Neuralink, xAI, SpaceX, Databricks, Energize AI. It seems clear where this is going. Data mining and algorithmic (claimed!) efficiency improvements while working on an essential and critical production system. Since these people claim that "AI" does not need to respect privacy and copyright, perhaps they'll also train a model on this. Where are the Democrats on all thi…

The democrats have effectively no power. They control neither the house, senate, or presidency, the courts have become more conservative, etc. They can only talk. The filibuster will prevent new laws, but that isn't much when the federal government acts according to the presidency, and the filibuster does not prevent government appointments

I doubt they will maintain the filibuster

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#330

Post by indoordin0saur »

siliconc0w wrote: post #277

If DOGE wants to be effective it really should be going after the big ticket items like medicare or defense, some estimates have medicare at 40% fraud and waste and the DoD can't even pass an audit so no one really knows what %. And that is just getting what we've paid for, not even evaluating if what we've paid for is effective. Of course to do that would require actual coalition building, hard choices that upset vo…

[flagged]
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