Musk asks 'high-IQ revolutionaries' to work for no pay on new Trump project | Hacker News Reader

Musk asks 'high-IQ revolutionaries' to work for no pay on new Trump project

theguardian.com

19 pointstestrun20 comments

I look forward to the repeat of Twitter debacle.

Anyone remember when people were riling up when he fired like 40% of the staff, sent out a email asking everyone to work crazy hour or quit?

In that moment there were still a lot of zealots, often (sadly) entangled with ideology, grindset worldview and machismo, that gladly joined Twitter under those condition to show that they weren't like those "snowflake losers at Twitter who did nothing and got fired" (a claim not completely off maybe but beside the point)

Even George Hotz joined, AS AN INTERN from being an CEO, left after about 5 weeks [1].

This time too, I'll bet there will still be enough Elon followers, clout chasers, people that want to "prove a point" politically, or to themselves, that will join.

Turns out those motivation rarely stand being mistreated, or toxic environment. Good enough of a motivation to be the whip master, but not to be the mule being whipped for a goal.

The other group I can think who stay under those conditions, are people with other patronage (lobbyist) with incentive to reform the "efficiency" in the government towards their financial goals.

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/20/23519922/george-hotz-geo...

I'd be shocked if this concocted quarantine that they shipped Musk off into gets any changes implemented. IQ as Musk sees it (no doubt logic/math type IQ) is not what effects change in government. Connections, social intelligence, and knowing how to work the system is what moves things in Washington.

I'm reminded of a story I heard in an interview of a Fed insider. They had an initiative designed to onboard Wall Street talent to counter the fact that so much of the modern financial system was building up outside of traditional regulated banking. Meanwhile the street was increasingly reliant on alternative data sources that were not in Fed reports. So they wanted people who could give the real scoop on what was happening in rainbow markets. Maybe someone going to go " Everyone knows SVB is loading up on massive amounts of duration risk at crazy prices, but what else could they do? This was always the in-game of FED ZIRP policy and now it's accelerating the critical levels right under the surface... "

Anyway, They had a decent response and the initiative and a pile of resumes, but the Fed ended up promoting internally to higher pay grades, end of story. High "IQ" smart initiative with a good response, but they didn't have the right teams with enough reach an institutional leverage implementing it. I would be shocked if the outcome is anything but that, at best. Too bad, because the initiative isn't necessarily a bad idea, but it's certainly off to a bad start with Musk at the helm. Sub 10% chance of success in my eyes.

The object is not to get changes implemented, it's to give an air of legitimacy to changes already planned to be made by executive order.

Unitary executive theory is a core part of Trump's official platform (Agenda 47) and the unofficial fanfic version (Project 2025). Ramaswamy's own campaign was centered on the idea that the President can rule by fiat.

> Connections, social intelligence, and knowing how to work the system is what moves things in Washington

You're not wrong, but this is a normative observation.

The question is, is this how it ought to be?

> Connections, social intelligence, and knowing how to work the system is what moves things in Washington.

did you not see the last election? bribes, foreign contacts, and aggressive social media moves things in DC.

> but it's certainly off to a bad start with Musk at the helm. Sub 10% chance of success in my eyes.

they're not aiming for "success", they're aiming to dismantle things their benefactors want, and muddle the rest. nothing positive will come of this unless you're Putin, the Saudis, or one of a handful of billionaires.

Nothing says ‘high-IQ’ like volunteering to work for an idiot for no pay.

I'm sure lots of companies would volunteer to pay someone who will then take care to make the government regulators tasked with overseeing them "more efficient" (i.e. less capable to do their job). You might say something like that would be illegal, but Musk himself is doing it, so why shouldn't others be able to?

I mean, you’d really have to bet on your proposed form of corruption remaining unprosecuted _forever_ for that to make sense. Like, that’d be just a straight-up bribe, surely?

I suppose if you’re betting that Trump causes the US to permanently convert into a Russia-style semi-failed state, then maybe it makes sense. But there’s definitely a world where, in two to four years (or sooner; Trump is not big on loyalty, and if this turns into enough of a public-annoying mess he’ll turn on it in a second), someone is tasked to clean up the mess, and at that point you don’t want to be a company who’s blatantly paying for policy.

Haha yeah, Elon Musk is an IDIOT! He's so stupid! It's honestly unbelievable.

Exceedingly rich guy begging his cult following to supply cheap slave labor for his personal benefit, what's not to like?

"The Department of Government Efficiency is hiring"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42142487

https://twitter.com/DOGE/status/1857076831104434289

Can you call it "hiring" if you're not paying them anything? If you look at the etymology, the word is intimately linked to actual money changing hands:

> hire (v.)

Old English hyrian "pay for service, employ for wages, engage," from Proto-Germanic hurjan (source also of Danish hyre, Old Frisian hera, Dutch huren, German heuern "to hire, rent"), of uncertain origin. Reflexively, "to agree to work for wages" from mid-13c. [...]

hire (n.)

"payment for work, use, or services; wages," from late Old English hyr "wages; interest, usury," [...]

(from https://www.etymonline.com/word/hire)

Maybe he was inspired by the history of "dollar-a-year men".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-dollar_salary

I question the IQ of anyone willing to work for the government, under Elon Musk, for free.

Yes but when they say IQ, they don’t mean what you do.

IQ = Loyalty.

While this does sound a bit obnoxious asking someone to "work" for no pay, considering the ask, this isn't a strange does it might sound. It's quite likely that position like this can't be monetized in other ways, as all government positions seem to be able to do. So if you are independently wealthy and able to move yourself into a policy influencing position like this, that can be a net benefit even without a salary.

That is a long way of saying "Working for exposure"

When you become independently wealthy you cease working to earn yearly salaries as your wealth. Your work becomes exposure because that exposure increases your net worth.

I look forward to the inevitable collision of Trump and Musk, two giant narcissistic egos who can't share the spotlight. Like two black holes colliding. If Musk had the "high IQ" he says he has he can look at Trump's history of breaking promises and alliances, and throwing his closest followers under the bus. Just look at sycophant-in-chief Rudy Giuliani having to sell his shoes in bankruptcy.

Both Trump and Musk claim they have very high IQs, so we should get a nuclear-level example of a Mensa meeting pissing match before too long.

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