[WD-42]

I'm sure it's a matter of interpretation. Anthropic thinks the DoW's demands will lead to mass surveillance and auto-kill bots. The DoW probably disagrees with that interpretation, and all OpenAI needs to do is agree with the DoW.

My bet is that what the DoW wants is pretty clearly tied to mass surveillance and kill-bots. Altman is a snake.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

Why do you choose to call it the "DoW"? Its official name is the Department of Defense, it was titled that way by Congress and only Congress can change it. What is your motivation in using a term that the current administration has started to use? Do you also use the Gulf of America when referrring to the body of water that defines the southern edge of the USA?

[thejazzman]

Don't you think it is more to-the-point to call it what it is and what the people running it with, i'll bet everything i have, absolute immunity, are doing and intend to do with it?

It's like the one honest thing they've done

[PaulDavisThe1st]

It is "honest" in the historical sense, certainly.

But the executive-order driven name change just another bit of illegal/extra-legal/paralegal behavior by the administration that, every time we just nod along, eats away at the constitutional structure of our government. So don't go along with it.

[j_maffe]

Personally, as someone coming from a region that has suffered many times over by the actions of this so called "Ministry of Defense," I feel like "Department of War" is a more accurate and honest term.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

As I've noted multiple times here on HN, I don't disagree with this.

But the question is not about whether it is a more accurate and honest term. It is about people complying in advance with the illegal/extra-legal renaming of a federal agency by a president who does not have the right or authority to do so.

If we were talking about Congress voting to rename the DoD as the DoW, I'd have nothing to say on the matter that differed from your observation.

[j_maffe]

Yeah that's fair you guys should still call it DoD. I think I'm gonna stick to DoW from here on out though.

[matsemann]

It's the term used by Sam Altman in the announcement. Maybe aim your anger there, to someone knowingly helping them in their attempt to turn the department into one of aggression.

[charcircuit]

The president changed it back to its original name with an executive order. The administration did not just start spontaneously using it.

[herewulf]

No, the Department of War is the former name of the Department of the Army and nothing else. DoD is a new creation that includes the Army, historic Department of the Navy, and the other, post-WW2, new services.

"Changing it back" is completely ahistoric.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

The president has no authority to do this. Federal departments and agencies are named by Congress, and even the Republicans in Congress have shown no interest in formalizing this.

[charcircuit]

The president can't change the law itself, but he can change the name they use.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

The law defines the name they should be using

[charcircuit]

It's not like there is a law that says they have to use that name on their X account or what domain to use for their website or emails.

[j_maffe]

If someone is calling themselves a warmonger, they should be called a warmonger.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

100%. But the names of US agencies are not the names of people, and not determined by individuals, even the warmongers.

[IsTom]

The only more fitting name currently would be Department of Peace

[calgoo]

Exactly this! Just like the Gulf of Mexico is still called the Gulf of Mexico, if we just ignore his ramblings and continue calling the department of defense, we undermine his whole point. If we fall for all their crap and just accept it, then we loose in the end. Any resistance to a Fascist government is good resistance. Anything that makes their life's a little shittier is good. Better that they go around having tantrums about how they renamed it but no one is paying attention.

[IsTom]

> The DoW probably disagrees with that interpretation

Or perhaps, maybe, just a little maybe, DoW is getting absolutely excited about mass surveillance and kill-bots?

[tombert]

Not that this will matter on any individual level, but I canceled my ChatGPT subscription after this.

I didn't have much of an opinion of Altman before but now I think he's a grifting douche.