Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass

Re:Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass by int_19h on Tuesday April 01, 2025 @02:22PM (#43549915)

It's a general problem with large bureaucracies. If you're a cog in the machine, the safest way is to always stick to the rules, and avoid any situation where one has to exercise discretion, since any personal judgment comes with potential personal responsibility down the line.

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Re:Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass by gsf_emergency_2 on Tuesday April 01, 2025 @05:51PM (#43551693)

It bugs me that oftentimes there appear to be nothing but cogs (e.g. Intel)

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Re:Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass by int_19h on Sunday April 06, 2025 @02:37AM (#43599393)

That shouldn't be surprising at all, since that is the safest arrangement for everyone, and therefore the system will tend to approximate it closely in the long term.

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Re:Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass by nicbou on Wednesday April 02, 2025 @06:09AM (#43555197)

I forgot where I read that large organisations are effectively accountability dilution machines. No one is fully in charge, and everyone gets to say that their hands are tied, that computer says no.

This is the dark side of scale.

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Re:Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass by miki123211 on Wednesday April 02, 2025 @12:12PM (#43558285)

THe original version of that idea seems to come from "The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions - and How The World Lost Its Mind", by Dan Davies (the "Lying for Money" guy.)

There's a shorter interview with him (in podcast form, includes a well-made transcript) going into these ideas at https://www.complexsystemspodcast.com/episodes/dan-davies-or...

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