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The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

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Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#461

Post by jacobjjacob »

solatic wrote: post #352
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…

Catching Medicare fraud likely requires a level of automatic data anomaly analysis that's simply beyond all the participants involved, both in terms of getting access to the actual databases and in getting the qualified manpower to build such a system. If the DoD's auditors can't track down all the expenses, then why would DOGE be any more successful? Running after bullshit is the low-hanging fruit.

I think that the practical solution is to hire more auditors/investigators, and they would end up paying for themselves, but I don’t think Elon would accept a solution that requires more humans and up front cost.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#462

Post by zzzeek »

khold_stare wrote: post #280
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.

This will sound like a conspiracy theory, but this is the playbook of Curtis Yarvin, specifically the "RAGE" step - Retire All Government Employees. Some references: Watch the whole video (posted months ago predicting all these actions), but here is the relevant section: https://youtu.be/5RpPTRcz1no?t=1201 NYT interview: https://www.nytimes.com/video/podcasts/100000009910862/curti... Gil Duran did a lot of the report…

it's not a conspiracy theory, it's an actual conspiracy. it's all out in the open for reading / download.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#463

Post by yodsanklai »

nomel wrote: post #135
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.

> Are such drastic action appropriate given the current state of the US? With the debt ceiling ever increasing, approaching a trillion dollars in interest per year, nearing $6k/year per working individual, I would say the correct time to put any effort, whatsoever, into reducing spending, was 20 years ago. I think the fundamental problem is we lack adversarial systems within the government: it doesn't like to hurt it…

> I would say the correct time to put any effort, whatsoever, into reducing spending, was 20 years ago.

Alternatively, it's possible to increase revenue.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#464

Post by DanHulton »

arionhardison wrote: post #443

This is where we are, we need to stop complaining and deal with things as the actually exist. I am doing this in my own way, my fear is Elon and Co. hitting Medicare/Medicaid so I am making my own: https://medicare.dev . I think this is going to become more and more common as fed become less and less stable/reliable.

This is a prime example of a social problem that does not have a technical solution.

Re-think your approach.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#467

Post by hintymad »

kelnos wrote: post #247
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

I find it hard to believe that any 19-22 year old would have the appropriate level of experience to handle this responsibility. Sure, a 55 year old also may not have the appropriate responsibility, but at least it's reasonable to expect that they could .

[flagged]

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#468

Post by pessimizer »

There doesn't seem to be anything interesting in this article, it's simply a Red Channels style blacklist against young people who are auditing a government program. The only reason this was published is because Wired is an intelligence outlet (and has always been.) Otherwise, the publishing of random government auditors' uninteresting resumes would obviously be considered harassment (if not doxxing, like Musk barked.)

Really, all this article says is that if you are an auditor for the commission appointed by the president, we will make sure that this comes up in an aggressively negative way when somebody who you want to work for googles you. It's pure intimidation, masquerading as journalism. It's somehow worse than Bill Ackman hiring trucks with the names of college students protesting a genocide being blasted as antisemites. At least Bill Ackman isn't pretending to be a journalist.

edit: every single article by this "disinformation expert" has been an anti-Trump or anti-Musk article. She has no other beat.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#469

Post by coldtea »

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.

If it's at some economic dominance peak is at the point at the top of an upward curve, when the acceleration has ended and the object reaches 0 velocity before coming back. It's a downward trajectory: public debt, failing infrastructure, failing manufacturing capabilities, failing leadership, failing rule of law, increased irrelevance on the world stage, and let's not get started with the culture.

If the dollar falls further from being the global reserve currency (something which both administrations did their best to ensure it will happen) that will be an even worse blow.

That there are people in bubbles believing it's all fine, or they never been better, is also a contributing factor to all this.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#470

Post by nemo44x »

tyre wrote: post #157
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.

The goal is to dismantle as much of the government as possible. Where possible, they can replace the existing people with their own people, then steer government contracts to themselves.

[flagged]
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