THE REAL ELEPHANT IN THE OLD ROOM
John Fraim (Petaluma, CA on a rainy night in 2022)
Black Magic / Frank Sinatra
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Efficiency is feared by the bureaucracy. Yet efficiency is the basis of technology.
Is it any wonder the bureaucracy is concerned about being examined by technology?
Not just technology but the leading technology of our time.
John Fraim
Like a lot of us out there – millions – I’ve been trying to figure out what has whacked up the collective psychology of American culture to a point far above its normal range. A point of where few have much faith in a future. Not just members of one political party. But both parties. Collective psychology includes all those who participate in the collective news, entertainment, sports, music, events, etc. of collective culture.
There is an interesting theory related to speed and magnitude of change in a political culture. Such as the first months of the Trump administration. The rapid change has wiped out the faith in an assured future of millions of Americans. Both Republicans and Democrats. Is some counterforce developing against this psychological assault of change in culture?
Speed and magnitude of change has been the Trump “shock & awe” campaign against the Bureaucracy. As we enter the third month of the Trump attack, counterforces have congregated in federal district courts. Will this be settled all at once? Or will battles with the courts drag on?
* * *
Entering this early period of the new administration, it is clear to me the real battle is not between Trump and the Democrats. The squawking’s and crazy antics of one of the parties attempts distraction by calling attention to loud leaders of the opposition party with their outlandish tactics.
Yet behind all of the loud politics of the day, including the Signal story, the real battle (it seems) is not between political parties as much as it is between two grand institutions of America: technology and bureaucracy. These two seemed locked in battle right now.
The main reason that Technology is locked with Bureaucracy is that Trump has enlisted the world’s greatest technologist to the Trump team. Enlisted is a bad word. There was only a mutual respect that developed in the last months of 2024. To the point that Musk became the sidekick of Trump. Always a special role. Not always officially authorized.
* * *
The real battle in the Trump administration might be the great confrontation between Technology and Bureaurcracy. Everyone looks at things in such a two-sided political perspective yet this is the true grand clash behind the news of the day.
One of the great symbolic intersections in American history was the nation’s founding at the paradoxical intersection between the symbols of Equality (Feminine/Democrats, Liberals) and Freedom (Masculine/Republicans, Conservatives). The power in the dynamics of the constant battle of duality between the two symbols – Democrats and Republicans – has made America the world’s fastest rising nation. Dynamics or the battle between two symbols.
Confronting the current bureacracy with the technology of Musk might prove to be one of the most important people in the administration. Of course it is a huge task. The Bureaucracy might appear rusty and full of barnacles. But it is always wrong to bet against this creaky old system that controls everyone today. (Yes, still using floppy disks and storing records in a cave).
will be one of the key outcomes of the Trump admininstration. Somewhat like the government bureaucracy given a total “physical” checkup by the best technologists in the world. The Mayo Clinic of modern technologists. Is there a way to make the bureaucracy more efficient? A huge question now with our huge national debt.
* * *
Perhaps the enduring legacy of the Trump administration is that it will allow leading technology to examine the bureaucracy. For the first time in history. Never has a president had this power of technology to examine the bureaucracy.
There is the leading technology of our time. Now held most likely by Elon Musk. Technology defined as the practical application of current knowledge. And what does one define that great system of our government currently organized as a bureaucracy?
Perhaps the overriding idea of the Trump administration is simply to have the world’s leading technology analyze the federal bureaucracy of America. This makes a lot of sense to me.
And such a rare opportunity when the President has the greatest technologists of the world on his side now with Elon leading all of them. It was not like this during Trump 45 when the tech world turned against him. Now, with Trump 47, it is a totally new situation as Trump seems to have the support of all leading tech CEOs in the world.
* * *
Yes, in the end, the enduring legacy of Trump 47 is that for the first-time, the leading technology of our time confronted that structure that governed all our lives called the federal bureaucracy. A lot of the of collective psychology of this great clash (the bureaucracy was really upset on being placed in position of villain in any dramatic story about the clash going on for real today.
Behind all the other daily noise you hear.
How long will the Musk team stay? Will they have evolved into something else?
The outcome of the district courts to administration?
How will the relationship between Musk and Trump evolve?
Will Musk be allowed to engineer a new type of government system. Not a bureaucracy but a true system based on a corporation. Using AI technology to design this new technology.
What will happen with Musk?
Such a wild card in so many ways. Who can really tell? Like a lot of us out there – millions – I’ve been trying to figure out what has whacked up the collective psychology of American culture to a point far above its normal range. A point of where few have much faith in a future. Not just members of one political party. But both parties. Collective psychology includes all those who participate in the collective news, entertainment, sports, music, events, etc. of collective culture.
There is an interesting theory related to speed and magnitude of change in a political culture. Such as the first months of the Trump administration. The rapid change has wiped out the faith in an assured future of millions of Americans. Both Republicans and Democrats. Is some counterforce developing?
Speed and magnitude of change has been the Trump “shock & awe” campaign against the Bureaucracy. As we enter the third month of the Trump attack, counterforces have congregated in federal district courts. Will all of this be settled at once? Will the courts be done away with? Or, battled one by one?
* * *
Entering this period of the new administration, it is clear to me the real battle is not between Trump and the Democrats. The squawking’s of the parties always represent that bright, shiny distractors out there. The loud, visual political battles. The real battle it seems to me is much more between two political parties but rather a battle at another important intersection in American history.
One of the great symbolic intersections in American history was the nation’s founding at the paradoxical intersection between the symbols of Equality (Feminine/Democrats, Liberals) and Freedom (Masculine/Republicans, Conservatives). The power in the constant battle of duality between the two symbols has made America the world’s fastest rising nation.
Another grand symbolic intersection might be with the confrontation of the government of bureaucracy with the latest technology of examination. Somewhat like the government given a total checkup by the Mayo Clinic of technologists in the world. Is there a way to make the bureaucracy more efficient? A huge question now with our huge national debt.
As I’ve noted, efficiency might really be a political question. Thus perhaps the huge pushback from the DC bureaucracy. The Musk DOGE team brings a huge threat to efficiency in the bureacracy. Hence their name the Department of Government Efficiency.
* * *
Perhaps the enduring legacy of the Trump administration is that it will allow leading technology to examine the bureaucracy. For the first time in history. Never has a president had this power of technology to examine the bureaucracy.
There is the leading technology of our time. Now held most likely by Elon Musk. Technology defined as the practical application of current knowledge. And what does one define that great system of our government currently organized as a bureaucracy?
Perhaps the overriding idea of the Trump administration is simply to have the world’s leading technology analyze the federal bureaucracy of America. What makes more sense than this?
And such a rare opportunity when the President has the greatest technologists of the world on his side now with Elon leading all of them. It was not like this during Trump 45 when the tech world turned against him. Now. With Trump 47 it is a totally new situation as Trump seems to have the support of all leading tech CEOs in the world.
* * *
Yes, in the end, the enduring legacy of Trump 47 is that for the first-time, the leading technology of our time confronted that structure that governed all our lives called the federal bureaucracy. A lot of the of collective psychology of this great clash (the bureaucracy was really upset on being placed in position of villain in any dramatic story about the clash going on for real today.
Behind all the other daily noise you hear. How long will the Musk team stay? Will they evolved into something else? The outcome of the District courts to administration? How will the relationship between Musk and Trump evolve?
Will Musk be allowed to engineer a new type of government system. Not a bureaucracy but a true system based on a new type of Musk corporation. Using AI technology to design structures.
Colussus
* * *
Something’s going on with Musk’s giant Colussus AI facility in the south. Colossus is a supercomputer developed by xAI located in Memphis, Tennessee. It is believed to be the world’s largest AI supercomputer. It operates a cluster of more than 200,000 interconnected Nvidia GPUs. It is planned to eventually include more than 1 million GPUs.
Musk moves ahead with DOGE in the administration and with Colussus behind him in private industry. It is not known about the power of Colussus. It has been one of Musk’s major projects. To control AI in the modern world. And this goal, really apart from his work for the Trump administration as head of DOGE.
You’ve gotta love Musk. When asked if he wanted to die on Mars he told an interviewer, yes but not on impact.
Perhaps it is the four-year term limitation of the presidency in our democracy that has a unique impact on the speed of change in the USA. For example, I agree with the use of tariffs to level uneven competitive fields, but if President Trump had more than one term to level the uneven field, might he be using a more orderly and systematic approach to phasing in tariffs? Even though there is the opportunity for a second presidency term, the first term has to end in such a way as to allow a second term. Many people bemoan the lack of term limits on our politicians, and I understand the reasoning, but is it possible that term limits might have a negative impact on doing things at rate of moderation? I’d hate being named CEO of a company $36 trillion in debt, being over-run with illegal invaders, and a BOD not knowing the difference between a man and a woman, and told …, “You’ve got (less than) four years to clean up this mess! You go gettem!!!”. Putting leaders and decision-makers in a “time box” has tremendous impact on the way in which they proceed.
As I listen to all the negative noise about President Trump’s efforts to eliminate wasteful and fraudulent government spending, there is clearly a fundamental economic principle that many Americans do not seem to grasp, and it is this: “All of one man’s expenses are the income of another man ….,EVEN IF THE SPENDING IS WASTEFUL, FRAUDULENT, AND UNNECESSARY”. There is no nice and painless way to eliminate any man’s undeserved income. He will scream regardless. The trick is not to create the baseless expense in the first place …, but then there is the issue of politics and that of buying favor (votes). Just an opinion.