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Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

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Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#91
post #65
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government is a huge ship where everything happens slowly. If you fire all sailors at once, you won't notice the difference immediately. The phantom ship continues to sail. Then engines start to heat up and fail. And if there's an obstacle along the way, it's game over. This is a dangerous game played by morons full of hubris. On June 16 YC organizes an "AI Startup School"; the first speaker is Elon Musk: https://www…

The good thing about these massive ships is that they take a loong time to sink. If my guesses are correct, it’ll work just long enough for another administration to take over to deal with the fallout.

> If my guesses are correct, it’ll work just long enough for another administration to take over to deal with the fallout.

Assuming things have not deteriorated too much by then that it can still be fixed.

Further, if it completely breaks down by then they may get the blame, even though it was not their fault.

This also assumes that an administration with a different philosophy gets in: if things are still "fine", another bunch of GOP deconstructionists could get in and continue things. In addition, DOGE is not about cost-cutting but about ideological purging, and so what's left of the civil service could act to sabotage any 'recovery efforts'.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#92

Imagine if crypto proponents were tasked like this with remaking the monetary systems, without having a real clue why it currently is how it is. It could be interesting and even work, but more likely than not it will just repeat the errors of the past and would be tweaked again and again until it resembles something similar to what it is now, with massive fallout in the meantime.

The irony the eurodollar system already works like decentralized crypto. There is a ledger of assets and liabilities and the international banks keep tabs on each other.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last few decades of what US is doing might be described as heroically snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, in slow motion. Basically since US was orphaned on the world stage by USSR it gradually falls apart.

Something similar as the USSR might be back in a couple of years, though.

It might, but if so funded by China. (Or maybe you just meant China?)

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the EU should hire them, since they probably need to enhance their nuclear weapon capabilities now.

> I guess the EU should hire them The EU doesn't have control of defense policy - that is the mandate of individual European states. The only EU member with nuclear weapons is France, which has it's own domestic nuclear ecosystem. More critically, public sector hiring is not the same as private sector. Working for a foreign government's NatSec apparatus would be a red flag for any sort of hiring - especially in the d…

> The only EU member with nuclear weapons is France, which has it's own domestic nuclear ecosystem.

The UK has US-derived (?) nuclear weapons, and so it would perhaps make sense for them to hire the Americans that maintained them:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_of_the_United_...

Given the 'waffling' of Trump on NATO support, Poland may want to develop their own.

Also South Korea and Japan may want to ramp up their own native infrastructure given the waffling of US Pacific support.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I guess the EU should hire them The EU doesn't have control of defense policy - that is the mandate of individual European states. The only EU member with nuclear weapons is France, which has it's own domestic nuclear ecosystem. More critically, public sector hiring is not the same as private sector. Working for a foreign government's NatSec apparatus would be a red flag for any sort of hiring - especially in the d…

> The only EU member with nuclear weapons is France, which has it's own domestic nuclear ecosystem. The UK has US-derived (?) nuclear weapons, and so it would perhaps make sense for them to hire the Americans that maintained them: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_of_the_United_... Given the 'waffling' of Trump on NATO support, Poland may want to develop their own. Also South Korea and Japan may want to…

> The UK

Not in the EU.

And the same NatSec requirements hold.

> Poland may want to develop their own.

A nuclear shield is useless without second or third strike capabilities - which requires a nuclear triad - as both Russia and China have developed those capabilities due to their rivalry with the US.

Poland hypothetically building 10 nuclear devices does nothing if Russia can launch multiple strike after getting striked.

Furthermore, developing nuclear weapons is causus belli enough to justify a hot war for China or Russia, nor does it actually prevent war as can be seen with the Kargil War.

More critically, nuclear programs are expensive and that money is better used in further building out conventional military capabilities, as can be seen with the Russia-Ukraine War, where a country with an ossified MIC (Ukraine) is able to cause significant pain to a nuclear power.

Tl;dr - Nuclear weapons alone are useless in a world where most Nuclear Powers (US, Russia, China, India, Israel) have a nuclear triad and multi-strike capabilities.

> Also South Korea and Japan may

The Indo-Pac theatre is different from the European theatre, as there is bipartisan support to prioritize Asian defense over European defense.

Furthermore, in a situation where American support is reduced, Asian countries can continue to retain conventional warfighting capabilities. This is because defense spending across Asia had always been high since the early-mid 2010 standoffs, so there hasn't been the same level of angst that much of Central Europe has.

Furthermore, Korean and Japanese military exports are extremely competitive, with Indonesia, Vietnam, and Philippines all closely aligning with SK and JP on defense posture.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#96
post #69
post #49

> Nuclear security is highly specialized, high-pressure work, but it's not particularly well paid, one employee told NPR. Given what's unfolded over the past 24 hours, "why would anybody want to take these jobs?" they asked. The people who will be hired in those jobs in the future are the ones who can't find any other job, and don't care one way or another. It will be a catastrophe of epic proportions, but hard to no…

I’m sure some Russian or Chinese immigrants will be only too happy to take these positions for peanuts. Which isn’t something the he is worried about given how buddy buddy he is with their respective leaders.

[deleted]

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#97
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. Basically that and the president being the executor of laws and having a standing army that he is chief of … effectively makes him a king. Especially since Congress is bought and paid for and won’t impeach him.

I'm putting this one on the voter, not Congress. As dumb as it is, Trump ran on these policies and is delivering.

> As dumb as it is, Trump ran on these policies and is delivering.

90% of the voting public pays little attention to policy (not saying this is a good thing).

A good portion of people that voted for Trump voted for him because he promised to hurt Those People. And just like Trump 1.0, it's going to end up hurting them as well (per /r/LeopardsAteMyFace):

> “I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”

* https://archive.is/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/us/flo...

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the game Civilization, there are different ways to achieve victory, one of which is a Cultural Victory. A lot of the foreign aid the US does is kind of like this, where we're attempting to shift other countries to our way of life through a mix of direct aid, loans, news, and other methods. There's a real long term ROI on these things where it's inarguably to the US' benefit that other countries want to speak Engli…

There are a few interesting channels on YT of Africans singing Chinese folk and pop songs. Quite fascinating and a sign of how China has been able to spread influence in Africa through investment. (Of course none of it a free ride)

There a great documentary called Empire of Dust from 2011 that follows Chinese engineers building roads in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2148945/

When it gets mentioned online it mostly seems to be racists suggesting Africans are inferior, partly based on the Chinese engineer's frustration with local customs and graft and labour market.

But I found it quite humanising of both the African and Chinese people featured. The director is Belgian, which controlled the region up until independence 50 years before filming.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#99
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Assuming that anyone in the government still cares. Schneier hits the mark here. Government only works at all if people care. And if you tell someone that their job, and the organisation they work for - are of no value - then those people won't care any more. I don't know what the outcome would be of large swathes of the government either being fired or not caring any more but we're going to find out and I don't t…

Government is a huge ship where everything happens slowly. If you fire all sailors at once, you won't notice the difference immediately. The phantom ship continues to sail. Then engines start to heat up and fail. And if there's an obstacle along the way, it's game over. This is a dangerous game played by morons full of hubris. On June 16 YC organizes an "AI Startup School"; the first speaker is Elon Musk: https://www…

> Government is a huge ship where everything happens slowly. If you fire all sailors at once, you won't notice the difference immediately. The phantom ship continues to sail.

Happens to business too. People don’t realise how long these entities can circle the drain.

Re: Managers given 200 characters to justify not firing nuclear regulators

#100
post #67
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The good thing about these massive ships is that they take a loong time to sink. If my guesses are correct, it’ll work just long enough for another administration to take over to deal with the fallout.

Just be careful when using analogies. The massive ship named USSR sank in a matter of months.

But that's exactly my point. Nothing happens for decades (apparently!) and then it all crashes in minutes.
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