Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[HVC]

Another historical source of blunders: putting Nazis in positions of power.

But mars!

[Admiral Yi]

Damn, nice word Hillary.

[Neil]

My view on groupthink has little to do with going high rather than low, it's mostly pragmatic.  Groupthink leads to blunders.

All thought leads to blunders.  Mistakes are unavoidable. 

Okay, let me be more pedantic:  the presence of groupthink makes blunders more likely.

I'm not entirely sure that's the case, except insofar that without it, collective action is less likely to occur, and so whole categories of actions would be unlikely to take place. 

[grumbler]

My view on groupthink has little to do with going high rather than low, it's mostly pragmatic.  Groupthink leads to blunders.

All thought leads to blunders.  Mistakes are unavoidable. 

Okay, let me be more pedantic:  the presence of groupthink makes blunders more likely.

I'm not entirely sure that's the case, except insofar that without it, collective action is less likely to occur, and so whole categories of actions would be unlikely to take place. 

You might want to look up the definition of "groupthink" before continuing to discuss it.

[Syt]

So here's my read on Elon's actions/goals in DOGE. I assume he has three main goals with this.

1. Neutering agencies that have been hindrances to his operations/investigating him.

2. Access to government data to give him a competitive advantage against other AI developers by getting to train his AI on huge chunks data not available to others.

3. Access to confidential data about competitors, like investigations against them, filings, etc. that might not be public

And of course scorching the earth so it's of no use after he's done.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Did people in pre-war Germany have lengthy debates about what sort of WW1 pilot or how good a hunter Hermann Goring was?

As a fighter pilot, yes.  I've never seen anything addressing his hunting skills.

One of his many offices was "Reich hunting master". While he was probably not personally involved, his department allowed to release four racoons into the wild in 1934. These "Nazi racoons" have grown to a million or so since and are one of the most prominent invasive species here. The urban legend is that he personally decided this for his own hunting.

How don't these raccoons all have habsburg chins?

[Jacob]

I'll tell you my best guess if you answer my question.  "I don't know" will do the trick.

Nah I don't need your best guess then.

I'd think it's immediately obvious - in the military metaphor that I used - that you don't shoot (bombard) your own guys when you're in the middle of an actual fight, even if you don't 100% agree with what they're doing or where they are.

The US left is often accused of forming circular firing squads. This, it is usually argued, undermines its effectiveness. My point is that forming up a circular firing squad over perceived groupthink is no more constructive than forming it up over perceived ideological imperfections.

Your country appears to be rapidly sliding into autocracy (at the very least). If people are rallying against one of the main drivers of that slide maybe it's counterproductive to spend your effort on insisting that all the content of the rallying cries are 100% factually correct according to your interpretations of the facts.

[Admiral Yi]

I'd think it's immediately obvious - in the military metaphor that I used - that you don't shoot (bombard) your own guys when you're in the middle of an actual fight, even if you don't 100% agree with what they're doing or where they are.

But fact checking is not bombarding.  No one gets killed or injured by fact checking.  It's telling people which direction to shoot.

My best guess was going to be that a certain portion of the electorate's energy and passion can only be maintained by accepting this sort of speech.  Not questioning.  So the danger is not turning out.

[DGuller]

I think Democrats performed a lot better when they were a circular firing squad.  I don't they have been for many years now, and decisions like Joe Biden choosing to run again got made.

[Syt]

[Jacob]

So here's my read on Elon's actions/goals in DOGE. I assume he has three main goals with this.

1. Neutering agencies that have been hindrances to his operations/investigating him.

2. Access to government data to give him a competitive advantage against other AI developers by getting to train his AI on huge chunks data not available to others.

3. Access to confidential data about competitors, like investigations against them, filings, etc. that might not be public

And of course scorching the earth so it's of no use after he's done.

I think there's also an element of purely sabotaging government functions for the sake of it, for a purely ideological reasons.

[Valmy]

I think there's also an element of purely sabotaging government functions for the sake of it, for a purely ideological reasons.

His libertarian ideology never extends to cutting programs that benefit himself 

[Valmy]

I think Democrats performed a lot better when they were a circular firing squad.  I don't they have been for many years now, and decisions like Joe Biden choosing to run again got made.

I don't know. They all lined up to shoot him once it was obvious he wasn't going to win.

[Syt]

[The Brain]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.