[Hidden-tech] Rewriting SSA code in months - possible?

Wed Apr 2 03:24:15 UTC 2025

As in love, war, sales, science, history, and most everything, I find that truly listening to others, especially those I differ from, helps me learn new things, and sometimes leads both sides to higher ground. I also learn more by following: "The beginning of wisdom is 'I don't know'" (Socrates); or Bill Mahar's “I don’t know 99.9% of stuff.” 

The problem is news is for sale now. Google sucked out most news channels' ad revenue, so channels had to sell out more or less. This means it takes too much time to find out what actually is happening in a field. One way I save time is to permanently discard a news source that lied (or grossly omitted) in a major story. After doing that for years, I've had to throw out pretty much all the formerly top news sources, which presents the whole new problem of finding reliable news. 

One solution I tried was Musk's https://x.com/i/grok LLM because, on a purely technical basis (it would take hours to explain), Grok seems to vectorize recent data better than the other top LLMs which compile data every few months while merely slapping on more recent data. I tested Grok by asking it to examine opposing stories about DOGE. If you are one who selects facts to fit your existing understanding, and you hate DOGE, you'd love some of Grok's replies to my queries. But in general, Grok, by citing and linking to actual sources within a perspective that considered opposing views, made all the extreme views look silly. 

I've long thought that the greatest threat to those who aim to destroy democracy is an LLM "Truth Machine." You might think that Grok, coming from, not Musk, but teams Musk hired, must be evil so not worth trying. Myself, I try to avoid prejudice (that is, not pre-judge), and so far I have found Grok has resolved extremes to useful, nuanced assessment, which taught me a lot I did not know. ChatGPT has done so too, but not so well with recent data, and hardly at all with very recent data. While Grok beta is still free, why not ask it about, for example, the constitutional issue of https://x.com/i/grok/share/uDBx1CGKhPgYFA0mLTaLpdXUE? (That's a Grok thread.) I think you'll be surprised to find that valid points on both sides of an issue are addressed, in contrast to this or that news source that excludes one or the other side and thereby incites US neighbors to attack rather than learn from one another. 

Regarding SS payments, it's really worth knowing what Musk said in this one minute video: https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxit7SyqsJxYkfVJGYIKNYGEe8AtT5-wJX?si=4VVWpzQnubES1r1R. Will that happen? I don't know, but I sure as heck expect a half-decent news source to report that statement to me, because then I can follow-up on it later.  

Here's the punch line: harmony among citizens depends on news channels that are balanced and not mere editorial fed to fan our feelings and clock click revenue. I'm still seeking one such news source, if anyone has suggestions. I've heard an India news source is good, but I forget which. Though using a "truth machine" takes much less time than verifying each news story I read, it still takes a lot more time than good ol' news that obeys no party, cites the relevant sources, and does not omit crucial parts of the story. 

Best Regards,

Rob Laporte

CEO  |  R&D Manager

DISC - Making Websites Make Money
mailto:Rob at 2disc.com, 413-584-6500

https://www.2disc.com

NOTE: Emails can be blocked by spam filters throughout the web. If you don’t get a reply within an expected span of time, please call.

---- On Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:55:20 -0400 Michael Muller via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote ---

Considering the recent backtracking and
        re-hiring of some of the more important fired personnel at
        critical federal agencies, the slap-dash eager beavers running
        around DOGE without a leash feel like drunk moshers in china
        shop. Any conversion by these people will be a fiasco, because
        they intrinsically don't care.

Log in to the SSA portal and download your
        payments and benefits report before it's offline.

Mik

Mik Muller, president
Montague WebWorks
20 River Street, Greenfield, MA
413-320-5336
http://MontagueWebWorks.com
Powered by ROCKETFUSION

On 3/29/2025 1:12 AM, AI Zuckerman via
      Hidden-discuss wrote:

https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/03/28/2148205/doge-to-rewrite-ssa-codebase-in-months?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/03/28/2148205/doge-to-rewrite-ssa-codebase-in-months?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

Hi
          Hidden Techies,
Here's
          one for coders on the list. A friend sent me a link to this
          article in Wired. Apparently, DOGE techies are claiming they
          can rewrite the SSA code in months. Wire reports that the SSA
          codebase has https://oig.ssa.gov/congressional-testimony/2016-07-14-newsroom-congressional-testimony-july14-ssa-modernization/ and
          handles record keeping for all American workers and payments
          for all Social Security recipients. 
The
          aim is to migrate all  SSA systems off COBOL ... and onto a
          more modern replacement like Java within a scheduled tight
          timeframe of a few months," notes Wired.
Some
          questions:
Is
          it possible to handle this mammoth job in a month?
What happens
          if the techies in DOGE make mistakes?
Would
          SSA have a backup system of the COBOL code?

Let
          all of us oldsters who depend on our SSA benefits keep them
          safe. If any people can do this, I know either you can or know
          someone who can. Please post your thoughts to the list.
If
          you want to chat with me about this situation then call me at
          413-362-4392. 
thanks!

Amy
          Zuckerman
HIDDEN
          TECH mother emeritus

I

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