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The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

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Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#71

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...

the plan is more specifically this right wing crypto idea called "the network state" - using technological means to bring down the Democratic state and replace it with a crypto-based oligarchy that serves big tech interests only:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyl171lyewo

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#72

If they're engaged in doing illegal stuff, at the federal level, I fully expect Trump to just pardon everyone involved. Maybe they're too deep in the Yarvin / Thield / Musk (Kool-Aid) sauce, but they should know better. This stuff will follow them for life.

They're directly attacking government infrastructure, including our intelligence apparatuses. Even if they escape legal consequences they could become targeted for extrajudicial killings by intelligence agencies of the US and allies.

[deleted]

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#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.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#74
post #3

I don’t know how this will shake out, but I do worry that these 19-24 year olds, some of whom are known to HN for other achievements, are putting themselves in real legal jeopardy. Edit: by the way, this post isn’t off-topic. It is about the activities of the US Digital Service (now known as Doge), and the exploits of young hackers who came up through top tech companies. It has implications for information systems se…

I’d go as far as to say that’s the intention here. They’re fall guys and they’re too naive/arrogant to realise it.

People say “oh, Trump will pardon them” but I wouldn’t be so sure, why does he care? Once this is done they’re not of any real use to him so it’s entirely possible he won’t waste the political capital pardoning them. Would be in character for a guy famous for not paying folks who have done work for him.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#75
post #3

I don’t know how this will shake out, but I do worry that these 19-24 year olds, some of whom are known to HN for other achievements, are putting themselves in real legal jeopardy. Edit: by the way, this post isn’t off-topic. It is about the activities of the US Digital Service (now known as Doge), and the exploits of young hackers who came up through top tech companies. It has implications for information systems se…

From a journalistic standpoint, it's entirely fair to report on these 19-24 year olds, and it is not doxxing to do so. They are quite literally now involved in the US government, and are consenting adults making the rational decision to involve themselves in real legal jeopardy.

I guess that's good. It's interesting that we're just now learning the names of the people that hope to disrupt these agencies, but we don't know exactly who, or even how many, of these agencies existed.

In other words, there are these critically important agencies that I didn't even know existed, but they're basically the glue that holds together our democracy. Who runs these agencies is not important, what is important is that they continue to run as they have in the past and anyone looking to disrupt that should be thoroughly investigated.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#77
of course Musk recruits young ambitious kiddos - they work hard, for not much money, and don't question authority (because they're blinded by their ambition)

it's only when you get older that you see how rife this is for abuse. as a simple example, if DOGE knows influential Treasury recipients, then they could find ways to extort them. help us and you'll get your money on time. oppose us, and...

heck, I'm a treasury recipient (albeit a very small one), so if I take to X and start criticizing Trump or Musk, is my money at risk? Maybe not today but maybe within his term. Scary times.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#79
post #3

I don’t know how this will shake out, but I do worry that these 19-24 year olds, some of whom are known to HN for other achievements, are putting themselves in real legal jeopardy. Edit: by the way, this post isn’t off-topic. It is about the activities of the US Digital Service (now known as Doge), and the exploits of young hackers who came up through top tech companies. It has implications for information systems se…

> I do worry that these 19-24 year olds (…) are putting themselves in real legal jeopardy.

On one side you have a handful of arrogant young adults doing the bidding of a couple of wannabe despotic man-babies. On the other you have an entire nation made up of millions of people and with major influence over the rest of the world.

I’m having a hard time understanding why your concern lies with the former.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#80
post #24
post #13

Musk could not get US Security Clearance He cannot enter certain facilities or meetings at SpaceX because of that. Yet now he is bypassing that requirement. None of these people are elected or confirmed by the Senate and they are doing extremely sensitive things to the government That's not how any of this is supposed to work by law.

National secrets shouldn’t have been kept in a bathroom in Mar-a-Lago and, yet, here we are.

Nor in a garage, nor in unsecured university offices
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