Elon Musk's "ultimate goal" emerges: machines replacing civil servants to create a "cyberpunk government"

In the past few weeks, the government efficiency department (DOGE) led by Musk has stirred up a storm in Washington. This team of young tech experts is rapidly reshaping the U.S. federal government, with its ultimate goal gradually coming to light: a technology-driven, highly automated "cyberpunk government."

Musk hopes to significantly reduce the number of civil servants, control the vast federal bureaucracy, and shrink its size to the lowest level in at least two decades. The goal is to establish a streamlined government that has less regulation over private enterprises, provides fewer services, occupies a smaller share of the U.S. economy, but responds more quickly to presidential directives.

On February 8, according to The Washington Post, in just three weeks, the DOGE team implemented a series of bold reforms, placing loyalists in leadership positions, collecting internal data including sensitive and confidential information, controlling the flow of funds, and aggressively cutting positions and projects that do not align with the goals of the Trump administration through legal or other means. This "blitzkrieg" style of reform has caused near-hourly chaos in Washington.

"Baby Soldiers" Strike Hard, AI Becomes the Successor to Civil Servants

According to a previous article from Wall Street Insight, the average age of the DOGE team members is just in their early twenties, and they have swept through various departments of the federal government like a whirlwind. These "baby soldiers" dress casually, sustain 120-hour work weeks with energy drinks like Red Bull, and even set up beds in the office. This operation has been referred to by some as "America's Second Revolution."

19-year-old Edward Corristin and 23-year-old Luke Farito are among the representative figures. They have been given the power to break conventions, possessing email accounts from multiple departments, freely entering various agencies, and even directing senior employees to prove their worth.

In the DOGE team's plan, AI will play a key role. Reports indicate that this group of "baby soldiers" is inputting a large amount of government records and databases into AI tools, looking for federal projects that can be canceled, and trying to determine which human jobs can be replaced by AI, machine learning tools, or even robots. In the Department of Education, they have begun using AI to analyze financial data, aiming to cancel all contracts that are not legally required or unnecessary. A U.S. official closely monitoring DOGE's activities stated:

"The ultimate goal is to replace human labor with machines. All jobs that can be automated by machines will be replaced. Tech experts will replace bureaucrats."

Analysts point out that if Musk's plan succeeds, the federal workforce could be reduced by at least 10%. A large-scale voluntary resignation plan is expected to be the first step, followed by potential large-scale involuntary layoffs. According to a memo released last week by the Office of Personnel Management (now controlled by Musk), these measures may include new hires or underperforming employees.

Musk's old friend Shervin Pishevar commented on this:

"Trump and Musk are two storms supported by the majority of Americans—one is a political storm, and the other is a technological storm. But both storms are destroying the same decaying structure."

Blockchain Technology: Musk's New Weapon for Government Transformation

In the process of promoting government automation, Musk has begun discussing the use of blockchain technology to improve efficiency and reduce costs, including utilizing digital ledger technology to track federal spending, protect data, make payments, and even manage buildings.

The DOGE team has met with representatives from several public blockchain projects to assess their technical feasibility. A source said that Musk had recruited about 100 volunteers to write code for the project before Trump's inauguration.

Last month, the White House also announced an executive order signed by Trump titled "Strengthening America's Leadership in Digital Financial Technology." The order calls for the establishment of a presidential "Working Group on Digital Asset Markets" within the National Economic Council, which aims to improve government efficiency and productivity through modernized government technology and software.

The Struggle of Civil Servants Against the "Cyberpunk Government"

However, Musk's radical measures have also raised deep concerns. Last Friday, a federal judge in Washington refused to block DOGE's access to Labor Department data, questioning the move that allowed "young DOGE staff who have 'never received training in handling confidential information' to access 'the medical and financial records of millions of Americans'." On Saturday, a federal judge in New York also temporarily blocked DOGE staff from accessing the sensitive payment systems of the Treasury Department, citing the risk of "irreparable harm."

Federal employee unions are also actively resisting. They have suggested that workers download their performance evaluations and personnel files in case this information is used against them. Meanwhile, the union is preparing legal challenges for remote-working members, advising them not to accept any resignation offers. Max Steer, president of the nonprofit "Partnership for Public Service," warned:

"We should be concerned that the government is not a tech startup. To destroy it in order to fix it is a terrible model in the public sector because people will get hurt."

However, Musk's supporters argue that such radical reforms are necessary. They point out that the U.S. is facing a severe fiscal situation, and the number of regulations has surged during the Biden administration. Avik Roy, founder of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, stated:

"They are trying to say, let's start from scratch and figure out which projects can achieve important goals and which are just waste and abuse. While this approach may face legal challenges, if it can improve government efficiency, that would be a good thing."

Some conservatives and long-time Trump supporters have reservations about their approach. Stephen Moore, who served as an external advisor to Trump, said, "This is more like a wrecking ball than a scalpel." But how much power does the Constitution really grant the president to completely reorganize the government on his own? Are we moving towards an imperial presidency? Whether this is a good thing remains to be seen