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The Radicalization of Elon Musk, from The Climate Change Champion, to Government Demolition Czar [1]

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Date: 2025-02-08

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“Move fast and break things” isn’t just an operating tactic of Tech Bro millionaires — it’s a manifestation of a deeper pathology. US Government beware ...

The New York Times had a podcast with Elon Musk. He talks about electric cars, space travel, neural links and more. One of his most provocative comments concerned artificial intelligence. Here is the exchange between Musk and Kara Swisher the hostess for the podcast. Kara Swicher: “So many years ago when we met you said A.I. would treat us like house cats. That they’re too smart to hate us. And you said, we’ll be like house cats. That’s how they think of us. And then later, when I met with you at your office, you switched it to anthills, which was your analogy that when you see an anthill you don’t kick it over unless you’re kind of a jerk. But when you’re making a highway you just roll over it. Can you give a metaphor of where we are with A.I. right now? Elon Musk: “I was just pointing out with the anthill analogy that A.I. does not need to hate us to destroy us. In a sense, that if it decides that it needs to go in a particular direction and we’re in the way then it would without no hard feelings it would just roll over us. We would roll over an anthill that’s in the way of a road. You don’t hate ants. You’re just building a road. It’s a risk not a prediction. So, yeah. I think that we really need to think of intelligence as really not being uniquely confined to humans. And that the potential for intelligence in computers is far greater than in biology. apicciano.commons.gc.cuny.edu — Sept 30, 2020

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Given Musk’s ever-evolving disdain/envy for AI’s inherit “indifference towards humanity,” over the years, you’d think he wouldn’t now being using it so cavalierly, to “tear down our Govt to its studs.”

Unless of course, Musk is anthropomorphizing his own Anthill perspective of Humanity — onto the AI. (See the more in-depth psychological profile below.)



Elon Musk’s team at DOGE feeding highly sensitive data to Microsoft Azure's AI bots

www.firstpost.com — Feb 7, 2025

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is facing intense scrutiny over reports that highly sensitive data from the US Department of Education is being fed through AI systems. According to a Washington Post investigation, DOGE is using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to analyse data that includes personal information and internal financial records. This initiative is reportedly part of a broader plan to extend AI usage across all federal agencies, raising concerns about security and ethical oversight.

[...] AI vs. security protocols Federal agencies typically have strict rules against using AI for handling sensitive data, but DOGE appears to be bypassing these regulations. The Department of Education’s data pipeline reportedly tracks every dollar spent by the agency, from contracts and grants to travel expenses.

[...] The reported data exposure is not limited to financial records; sensitive student loan information, affecting millions, has also been accessed. [...]

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is pushing to rapidly develop “GSAi,” a custom generative AI chatbot for the US General Services Administration, according to two people familiar with the project. The plan is part of President Donald Trump’s AI-first agenda to modernize the federal government with advanced technology. www.wired.com — Feb 6, 2025

The Washington Post, citing two unnamed people, reported representatives from DOGE were using AI through Microsoft’s Azure service to go through data with “personally identifiable information for people who manage grants, as well as sensitive internal financial data”—though an Education Department spokesperson told the Post they are looking for efficiencies and there’s “nothing inappropriate or nefarious”—a report that comes after days of Democratic lawmakers expressing concern about DOGE’s access to sensitive information across departments. www.forbes.com — Feb 6, 2025

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Kara Swicher has a long history of interviewing Elon Musk and his technological achievements over the years, for the New York Times, among others. In this next very blunt discussion with Ezra Klein, she provides many insights into Elon’s ‘broken personality’ — and his insatiable quest for attention and power. As they note, both Musk and Trump share these same deficits in common, and to the extreme.

Swicher recounts the story of Musk’s ever-changing takes on AI (as described above), but in even more detail. Along with many other similar, haunting reveals. If somewhat reluctantly ...

Kara Swisher on the Radicalization of Elon Musk | The Ezra Klein Show

Feb 8, 2025

Elon Musk has been on a slash-and-burn tear through the federal government — gaining access to I.T. systems, dismantling U.S.A.I.D. and unleashing a firehose of attacks on his platform, X, accusing the bureaucracy of various conspiratorial crimes. As this all unfolds before our eyes, it’s hard to believe that Musk, not that long ago, was a conventional Obama-era liberal. How did a guy who cared about climate change and going to Mars, whose companies were buoyed by government largess, become Donald Trump’s most unapologetic soldier? What does he hope to do with all this power? What does Musk want? Kara Swisher has been reporting on Musk for decades and is one of the great tech reporters of our age. She hosts the podcasts “On With Kara Swisher” and “Pivot,” with Scott Galloway, and is the author of “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.” This episode contains strong language.

We are being warned … again.

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