If I was a foreign adversary of the US I would be salivating at the idea of several unvetted 19-25 year olds with unlimited access to classified government computer systems. The security implications are apocalyptic.
The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
981–990 of 1001 posts
Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
#982If I was a foreign adversary of the US I would be salivating at the idea of several unvetted 19-25 year olds with unlimited access to classified government computer systems. The security implications are apocalyptic.
> unlimited access to classified government computer systems.
What makes you think they have access to classified government computer systems, let alone unlimited access?
It's my understanding that classified data is on a completely separate network called SIPRNET[1] and that basic accounting data (e.g. USAID grant data) (a) isn't classified and (b) access to USAID data doesn't imply access to SIPRNET
Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
#983I hate that in this country, everything is political and everything has only 2 sides. Is there waste and inefficiency in government spending? Yes, I think so. Should we do our best to cut and trim this? Absolutely. Is DOGE's ham-fisted, half-assed version of this "doing our best"? Of course not. But apparently in this country, you have to be either pro government waste or pro DOGE. No middle ground or common sense al…
> I hate that in this country, everything is political and everything has only 2 sides. > But apparently in this country, you have to be either pro government waste or pro DOGE. No middle ground or common sense allowed. Take a close look at who is creating two sides. Perhaps there is more nuance to the points being made by the people who do not seem to be pro DOGE.
they are certainly leading the dance, but it takes two to tango
Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
#984Well from a foreigner's perspective, US is finally getting its own version of Cultural Revolution.
We'll see. They were tearing down statues and demanding public self-criticism a few years ago, but that was actually the other side. Shutting down the universities and firing any professor who isn't politically correct is a couple of years in the future; Trump probably has to replace the accreditation system for the universities first. There isn't currently a mechanism for "sending down" suspected subversive thinkers…
> The news media are still independent, for all that matters.
The media has bent the knee to Trump, a meteorologist was fired for critiquing Trump on her private Instagram, and an LATimes article's editors removed the article author's criticisms of Trump. You have to goto YouTube to find people openly critizing Trump.
Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
#985Well I hope in the (very near) future we decide we want the executive branch to have less power, so as to protect ourselves from a unitary executive who goes rogue. Yes it may be less efficient, but more resilient. This drive for uber efficiency can 1) make government more fragile (see toilet paper supply issues during the pandemic) and 2) be a slippery slope to dehumanization (see paper clip maximizing problem).
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Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
#986Well I hope in the (very near) future we decide we want the executive branch to have less power, so as to protect ourselves from a unitary executive who goes rogue. Yes it may be less efficient, but more resilient. This drive for uber efficiency can 1) make government more fragile (see toilet paper supply issues during the pandemic) and 2) be a slippery slope to dehumanization (see paper clip maximizing problem).
I thought that was their strategy, though? Dismantle the executive branch to the point where the president has little power.
Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
#987Well I hope in the (very near) future we decide we want the executive branch to have less power, so as to protect ourselves from a unitary executive who goes rogue. Yes it may be less efficient, but more resilient. This drive for uber efficiency can 1) make government more fragile (see toilet paper supply issues during the pandemic) and 2) be a slippery slope to dehumanization (see paper clip maximizing problem).
I guess it took Trump to make Liberals want a smaller executive government.
Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
#988Well I hope in the (very near) future we decide we want the executive branch to have less power, so as to protect ourselves from a unitary executive who goes rogue. Yes it may be less efficient, but more resilient. This drive for uber efficiency can 1) make government more fragile (see toilet paper supply issues during the pandemic) and 2) be a slippery slope to dehumanization (see paper clip maximizing problem).
The problem is that we painted ourselves into a this corner long ago. Even if Congress wasn't generally paralyzed by bad-faith partisan fighting, the House and Senate are not equipped to do even a small fraction of what the executive branch does today. If we removed much of the executive branch's power, it wouldn't be "less efficient". The government just wouldn't do anything. Some people (current GOP) seems to think…
Most conservatives and Libertarians from all times think that.
A minority of those on the right, don't.
Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
#989Posts 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 find government waste and to trim the fat. The goal is to make the US government lean, efficient, and effective at improving the lives of Americans while not prioritizing improving the lives of citizens of other nations. The view is that the government of those other nations should be responsible for taking care of their own citizens. The goal is to uncover fraudulent payouts, stop more from going out…
> effective at improving the lives of Americans while not prioritizing improving the lives of citizens of other nations.
A bold claim. Can I get a list of these nations?
Because last time I checked, if in doubt the US backed who is better for them not for the people of that nation.
And what’s waste is highly political.
In the long run the US will lose lots of its influence in other countries.
Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
#990Let's open their repos and see their PRs. Then nobody will need to make assertions about their brilliance or irresponsibility. D.O.G.E.: Make your repos public. Let's see what you are doing. And if you don't have repos, write a script to mirror the codebase and your diffs.
Luke Farritor Deciphered an ancient scroll using AI, he seems to be pretty smart.