Here are quick answers to your questions. I hope others will share their thoughts.
<< What do you think: Can tech professionals effectively resist corporate colonization of public services? >>
Can they? Probably. However, look at the personal costs to them!
<< How can we protect critical government infrastructure from being dismantled by billionaire vanity projects? >>
We cannot at the moment. We must first get rid of the ReThuglican majorities in Congress. However, the GOP have long engaged in purging voter lists and gerrymandering. The problem is that even though they KNOW what Trump and Musk are doing, they will not lift a finger to stop it. Moreover, the ReThuglicans have control of both the courts and the media. They are also most adept at "cashing in" on issues like "the border" (or "illegal immigrants"). The Dems, for their part, run horrible candidates and inept campaigns, and if things don't shape up in a hurry, our de facto techno-fascist dictatorship will become a de jure coup.
Looking back at history, did it seem likely the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact would last? Hitler did not want to fight a war on two fronts (at least at the beginning), and Stalin knew that his purges had left him more vulnerable than he wanted to be, so the two cynical monsters divided Poland between them and waited.
My prediction is that sooner or later Musk and Trump will have a parting of the ways, and it will not be pleasant. Meanwhile, Musk is garnering huge government contracts and tax breaks, and Trump has the Oval Office. The two monsters are destroying the USA (and arguably the planet) between them, and they may well wreak more havoc than Hitler and Stalin did.
Here are quick answers to your questions. I hope others will share their thoughts.
<< What do you think: Can tech professionals effectively resist corporate colonization of public services? >>
Can they? Probably. However, look at the personal costs to them!
<< How can we protect critical government infrastructure from being dismantled by billionaire vanity projects? >>
We cannot at the moment. We must first get rid of the ReThuglican majorities in Congress. However, the GOP have long engaged in purging voter lists and gerrymandering. The problem is that even though they KNOW what Trump and Musk are doing, they will not lift a finger to stop it. Moreover, the ReThuglicans have control of both the courts and the media. They are also most adept at "cashing in" on issues like "the border" (or "illegal immigrants"). The Dems, for their part, run horrible candidates and inept campaigns, and if things don't shape up in a hurry, our de facto techno-fascist dictatorship will become a de jure coup.
Do you think Trump will eventually get rid of his Elon problem? There's no way he'll let him continue to outshine him...
Looking back at history, did it seem likely the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact would last? Hitler did not want to fight a war on two fronts (at least at the beginning), and Stalin knew that his purges had left him more vulnerable than he wanted to be, so the two cynical monsters divided Poland between them and waited.
My prediction is that sooner or later Musk and Trump will have a parting of the ways, and it will not be pleasant. Meanwhile, Musk is garnering huge government contracts and tax breaks, and Trump has the Oval Office. The two monsters are destroying the USA (and arguably the planet) between them, and they may well wreak more havoc than Hitler and Stalin did.
They do not run nations. They only plunder and destroy them.