Ezra Klein has been pointing this out about "DOGE" which is that "Efficiency" cannot exist in a vacuum. Obviously it's bad faith from the start and the actual goal is to destroy things they don't like or feel culturally opposed to, but even taken at their word, "Efficiency" has no meaning until you attach it to a goal or an outcome. More efficient health care... ok- more efficient at providing the care to everyone? to certain people? at taking payments? at shortening wait times? at clarifying decisions up front?
I love that observation. It’s such an important reminder of how often economics-coded buzzwords are used to distract from — or outright mask — the gap between someone's stated goals, true agenda, and the real impact of their actions or policies. One of the most sobering, but essential, findings of the "moral autopsy" the Frankfurt School of sociologists conducted on Germany after World War II was about this very disconnect: how the same principles that once guided technological progress and administrative governance were repurposed to industrialize genocide. That’s why I included the heavy Zone of Interest scene — it’s a devastating illustration of what happens when efficiency is stripped of any greater moral framework. Ultimately, efficiency is only as good — or as evil — as the purpose it's being aimed at.
Ezra Klein has been pointing this out about "DOGE" which is that "Efficiency" cannot exist in a vacuum. Obviously it's bad faith from the start and the actual goal is to destroy things they don't like or feel culturally opposed to, but even taken at their word, "Efficiency" has no meaning until you attach it to a goal or an outcome. More efficient health care... ok- more efficient at providing the care to everyone? to certain people? at taking payments? at shortening wait times? at clarifying decisions up front?
I love that observation. It’s such an important reminder of how often economics-coded buzzwords are used to distract from — or outright mask — the gap between someone's stated goals, true agenda, and the real impact of their actions or policies. One of the most sobering, but essential, findings of the "moral autopsy" the Frankfurt School of sociologists conducted on Germany after World War II was about this very disconnect: how the same principles that once guided technological progress and administrative governance were repurposed to industrialize genocide. That’s why I included the heavy Zone of Interest scene — it’s a devastating illustration of what happens when efficiency is stripped of any greater moral framework. Ultimately, efficiency is only as good — or as evil — as the purpose it's being aimed at.