FTC Taps Ed Felten As First Chief Technologist 76
An anonymous reader contributes this snippet from Digital Daily: "Looks like the Federal Trade Commission got its first choice of Chief Technologist, because it's hard to think of anyone better to serve in that capacity than Princeton computer science professor Ed Felten, a guy whose CV makes everyone from Microsoft to Diebold shudder in embarrassment."
CV makes everyone shudder in embarrassment (Score:3, Interesting)
Why would someone's CV make you shudder in embarrassment?
Just because he's quite talented and has a strong background, why would that cause Microsoft to shudder?
Jealousy maybe, But embarrassment? Are there pictures of Ballmer dancing, on his CV?
Re:Duh (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, it should be Carli, because she did such a great job~
We really don't want people who think in 3 month blocks advising on decsions that will impact every citizens. That's smart.
The government caters to all citizens, business caters to only those people who want/afford there good and/or services.
Running the government like a business will fail. Every time some one tries it, it fails. Why? because they MUST cater to everyone. Regardless of income. Plus, they can never maintain the high level of service the government provides cheaper then the government does it.
Re:Great, more Elitism in Government (Score:4, Interesting)
I think you're confusing 'elitism' with 'intelligence'...
'elite' implies wealth and power. True, that typically also leads to a better education, but you can put any idiot through Harvard and he'll still be an idiot.Just because you do well at an ivy-league school does not mean you're intelligent. Hell, I find that people who do well on exams are just good at memorizing information. When it comes to actually using that information or having any common sense at all, many of them can't and don't. So you can remember the formulas the prof gives you, remember the problem formats, and manage to pull numbers out and plug them into the right formula. I've seen plenty of people do that without having any clue what the formula actually _means_. Hell, there have been times where I've done that myself.
What we really need in government are people who know how to interpret and use information. That's about it. I'm not saying Ed Felten can or can't do this, I'm just saying that that's certainly not part of being 'elite'. It is, however, a large part of intelligence.
Re:Great, more Elitism in Government (Score:4, Interesting)
Ever spoken to an academic? You might be surprised how poorly your stereotypes stand up to reality.
Very true. Much of my early career as a software developer (late seventies, early eighties) was spent working with senior medical researchers at a couple of local Universities. I had time time of my life, actually ... it was some pretty cool stuff for the time, and those guys were great. Always willing to take the time to explain something, never tried to make anyone feel stupid, nothing like the stereotypical "ivory tower" types that many people seem to believe inhabit our institutes of higher learning. Oh, it takes all kinds, but having an advanced education doesn't make you any less of a human being. It may make you harder to fool