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I really would have thought he'd know better than this. Without having researched Cummings in much detail, I certainly don't like the political causes he has s

I really would have thought he'd know better than this. Without having researched Cummings in much detail, I certainly don't like the political causes he has supported but I have vaguely got the impression he might (despite his history degree) be quite intelligent at managing teams that make good use of data to drive policy - something which would appeal to the HN crowd. Does anyone know am I justified in thinking this, or is it all spinning smoke and mirrors?

jfk13 6y ago
Likewise without having researched in detail, my impression is that he's probably very intelligent at stuff like that, but at the same time, utterly unprincipled. So yes, I suppose he'd fit right in to the ad-tech world, if he does find himself wanting a career change.
Kliment 6y ago
It's all spinning mirrors and backroom smoke. Cummings is an accelerationist whose policy is destroy as much as possible so it can be rebuilt. There is no indication that he's in any way competent at making good use of data to inform policy - if anything he's good at finding people who can make data look about right to justify a policy he already likes.
- random32840 6y ago
  I'm really not convinced he's ideologically driven. I imagine he makes a lot of money for doing what he does, given his track record.
diroussel 6y ago
Yes, he’s very much adept at manage teams who use data. In the run-up to the UK’s referendum on Brexit, his big insight was to realise that it was hard work to convince ‘remain’ (pro Europe) voters to vote leave. But instead he had the insight, setup the teams, and got the funding to launch a massive online social media campaign, to find people who had never voted and convince them to vote for Brexit. The models were computer simulations that were regularly calibrated from proxy measures. And then the models told the teams where to spend money on targeted Facebook advertising. Like telling young men in coastal communities that Brexit was better for fishing rights. Without Cummins’s insight Brexit would not have happened and Boris Johnson would not be prime minister of the UK.
- iso1631 6y ago
  > Without Cummins’s insight Brexit would not have happened and Boris Johnson would not be prime minister of the UK. It's an interesting parallel universe. Cameron had a slim majority in 2015, and likely would have hung on, but he'd have been up against Miliband for a May 2020 election, which would have had to be postponed. We'd likely have had a government of national unity in Feb 2020
dynamite-ready 6y ago
Personally, if you read his blog, you can learn a lot about the very field you'd alluded to ("...use of data to drive policy..."). And some of it is very interesting stuff. But much like yourself, I find his political views abhorrent.
rvz 6y ago
> Does anyone know am I justified in thinking this, or is it all spinning smoke and mirrors? There's a great deal of spin doctors on all sides that will do anything to make the party they're in look great in-front of the 'media' in order to sweep scandals under the carpet. So it's both. The guy is undoubtably clever, something like an evil genius here and he knows the mainstream media is on his case for sometime with lots of skepticism of his own story if proven to be completely false. His attitude to answering questions in the Q/A was nothing more than a lure to show the extreme hysteria and anger the media has towards him, just as they ran with a story of 'allegations' of a second trip with no evidence. [0][1] Such stories without evidence are very dangerous. > No photographic evidence has been published, and the reports are based on the testimonies of two eyewitnesses. The UK didn't take the lockdown measures and this pandemic seriously from the start and was slow to act and testing targets were not met. The media compared it to the 'flu' and played down the death rates when comparing it to the 2003 SARS outbreak. Perhaps those who weren't socially distant and were clapping close together at Westminster Bridge [2] were just as bad as Cummings 'breaking' the lockdown, shouldn't begin to point fingers. It's everyone's fault. [0] https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-dominic-cummings-made-second-trip-to-durham-during-lockdown-reports-11993660 https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-dominic-cummings-made... [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52786206 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52786206 [2] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-clap-carers-westminster-bridge-police-lockdown-social-distancing-a9491956.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-...

jfk13 6y ago

Likewise without having researched in detail, my impression is that he's probably very intelligent at stuff like that, but at the same time, utterly unprincipled. So yes, I suppose he'd fit right in to the ad-tech world, if he does find himself wanting a career change.

Kliment 6y ago

It's all spinning mirrors and backroom smoke. Cummings is an accelerationist whose policy is destroy as much as possible so it can be rebuilt. There is no indication that he's in any way competent at making good use of data to inform policy - if anything he's good at finding people who can make data look about right to justify a policy he already likes.

random32840 6y ago
I'm really not convinced he's ideologically driven. I imagine he makes a lot of money for doing what he does, given his track record.

diroussel 6y ago

Yes, he’s very much adept at manage teams who use data. In the run-up to the UK’s referendum on Brexit, his big insight was to realise that it was hard work to convince ‘remain’ (pro Europe) voters to vote leave. But instead he had the insight, setup the teams, and got the funding to launch a massive online social media campaign, to find people who had never voted and convince them to vote for Brexit. The models were computer simulations that were regularly calibrated from proxy measures. And then the models told the teams where to spend money on targeted Facebook advertising. Like telling young men in coastal communities that Brexit was better for fishing rights. Without Cummins’s insight Brexit would not have happened and Boris Johnson would not be prime minister of the UK.

iso1631 6y ago
> Without Cummins’s insight Brexit would not have happened and Boris Johnson would not be prime minister of the UK. It's an interesting parallel universe. Cameron had a slim majority in 2015, and likely would have hung on, but he'd have been up against Miliband for a May 2020 election, which would have had to be postponed. We'd likely have had a government of national unity in Feb 2020

dynamite-ready 6y ago

Personally, if you read his blog, you can learn a lot about the very field you'd alluded to ("...use of data to drive policy..."). And some of it is very interesting stuff. But much like yourself, I find his political views abhorrent.

rvz 6y ago

> Does anyone know am I justified in thinking this, or is it all spinning smoke and mirrors? There's a great deal of spin doctors on all sides that will do anything to make the party they're in look great in-front of the 'media' in order to sweep scandals under the carpet. So it's both. The guy is undoubtably clever, something like an evil genius here and he knows the mainstream media is on his case for sometime with lots of skepticism of his own story if proven to be completely false. His attitude to answering questions in the Q/A was nothing more than a lure to show the extreme hysteria and anger the media has towards him, just as they ran with a story of 'allegations' of a second trip with no evidence. [0][1] Such stories without evidence are very dangerous. > No photographic evidence has been published, and the reports are based on the testimonies of two eyewitnesses. The UK didn't take the lockdown measures and this pandemic seriously from the start and was slow to act and testing targets were not met. The media compared it to the 'flu' and played down the death rates when comparing it to the 2003 SARS outbreak. Perhaps those who weren't socially distant and were clapping close together at Westminster Bridge [2] were just as bad as Cummings 'breaking' the lockdown, shouldn't begin to point fingers. It's everyone's fault. [0] https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-dominic-cummings-made-second-trip-to-durham-during-lockdown-reports-11993660 https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-dominic-cummings-made... [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52786206 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52786206 [2] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-clap-carers-westminster-bridge-police-lockdown-social-distancing-a9491956.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-...