Demystifying the Department of Government Efficiency

Zoë Schiffer: It must have been a long walk.

Lauren Goode: I mean, I’ve heard a lot about jujitsu. 56 minutes of that show was taken up on jujitsu, and then it was also like, “Also, how to live forever.” I do not know. Yes.

Michael Calore: I really want to hear that, because I was fascinated when you started talking, and Zoë talked about him. I don’t want to read his book, but I’m listening to him on Joe Rogan. The Big Joe Rogan thing for me was the recent appearance of Marc Andreessen.

Lauren Goode: Oh, how was that?

Michael Calore: It was like 6pm.

Lauren Goode: Wow. You were deep in the broligarchy.

Zoë Schiffer: I heard it because you were talking about it, and I was like… And it’s relevant to our conversation today, but damn, was that long?

Michael Calore: Is it. And this show will not be 18 hours, but it is relevant to the topic, because we will talk about DOGE.

Lauren Goode: So once again, the broligarchy.

Michael Calore: The broligarchy.

Lauren Goode: Let’s do it.

Michael Calore: This is WIRED’s Uncanny Valley, a show about the people, power and influence of Silicon Valley. I’m Michael Calore, director of consumer technology and culture here at WIRED.

Lauren Goode: And I’m Lauren Goode. I’m a senior writer at WIRED.

Zoë Schiffer: And I’m Zoë Schiffer, director of business and industry at WIRED.

Michael Calore: Today, we demystify DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, the meme currency. As Lauren calls it, the broligarchy. We will talk about the main players, what is their proposed plan for the US government, and what we think is really behind it all. DOGE. All right. We are talking about DOGE today, and no, not the meme coin.

Zoë Schiffer: Although the meme coin is relevant here, because this is the big joke. That’s why they chose this acronym. So just to give you a little background on what that even means, meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency that is based off of a joke. It’s like almost making fun of cryptocurrency itself. So Dogecoin is what Elon Musk has been promoting for a long time. There are others like BONK and FLOKI which I think are named after their dog, Floki, not BONK. They are actually a type of crypto, but they are based off of an internet joke.

Lauren Goode: Wasn’t there a Hawk Tuah coin recently?

Zoë Schiffer: Ew.

Michael Calore: There was. Yes.

Lauren Goode: Yes. And how did it go?

Michael Calore: Not good.

Zoë Schiffer: Yes.

Michael Calore: Meme coins in general do not fare well. But this has a second life, because now it has been rebranded as the Department of Government Efficiency, of which Elon Musk is one of the people responsible.