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This is how leadership works when you're not a dictator. It's essentially a never-ending negotiation with a faceless and mercurial second party. Someone in hi

This is how leadership works when you're not a dictator. It's essentially a never-ending negotiation with a faceless and mercurial second party. Someone in his position cannot issue mandates backed by force, and so persuasion and influence are the primary tools -- and setting goals people see as unachievable is not productive. As the prevailing opinion changes, a leader needs to account for that. He's trying to achieve a specific result -- maximum acceptance of the tools we hav to fight the disease -- and the idea that a scientist can just stand in front of a camera and make a statement one time and then expect three hundred million people to accept that information and act with maximum rationality is basically absurd. It's up to you to decide whether that makes him an asshole or not, but I think the fact that he's discussing it with reporters says a lot about his transparency and honesty all by itself.

chordalkeyboard 6y ago
> This is how leadership works when you're not a dictator. It's essentially a never-ending negotiation with a faceless and mercurial second party. I’ve had leaders that misrepresented facts in order to obtain compliance, as Fauci has, and leaders that were honest with me. I know which I prefer and I know which is considered ethical.
- prox 6y ago
  What facts where misrepresented? He gave a range of numbers that seemed likely by him.
  - chordalkeyboard 6y ago
    >> “When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent,” Dr. Fauci said. “Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can nudge this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85.” He’s clearly saying he changed his statement based on the compliance of the population and not medical research. He misrepresented the medical consensus as to what percentage of the population would need to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity.
brobdingnagians 6y ago
A scientist's first commitment should be to evidence based truth. They should tell it how it is, then the leaders can figure out how to get there. If scientific papers came to a conclusion based on what people are willing to accept or what is popular, we'd rarely find anything surprising to advance science. Lying isn't science. Telling people to follow the science while your top scientist lies about what the science is-- that isn't healthy and it will make sure the average person starts to distrust the "science". If he's willing to lie about that, what else is he lying about?
- matwood 6y ago
  What exactly is he lying about here? He's shifting up with new science and as his opinion shifts. "In the pandemic’s early days, Dr. Fauci tended to cite the same 60 to 70 percent estimate that most experts did. About a month ago, he began saying “70, 75 percent” in television interviews. And last week, in an interview with CNBC News, he said “75, 80, 85 percent” and “75 to 80-plus percent.”" "In a telephone interview the next day, Dr. Fauci acknowledged that he had slowly but deliberately been moving the goal posts. He is doing so, he said, partly based on new science, and partly on his gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks." The problem Dr. Fauci and other scientist have is if they share their opinions and then evidence comes out that makes them change their opinions, they have people who will call them liars and pull quotes out of context. But, this is exactly how science works. > the average person starts to distrust the "science" Unfortunately the average person doesn't understand science and that is why they distrust it. I still see people citing papers relating SARS1 is killed by hydroxychlorqine in vitro, ignoring all the papers describing RCTs in vivo dealing with SARS2.
- prox 6y ago
  But the “truth” in science is consensus, which is hard for a virus that only has been out for a year. Some things can be said with a degree of confidence, others can not. That isn’t to say he should be vigilant when he speaks to be accurate, but sometimes advisement needs to be done before all the data is there.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jrumbut 6y ago
You're point is, to me, the most important. But in addition when you hear a number like 70-75% it's pretty clearly an estimate or guideline. It's not as though he was sitting there looking at the number 82.71, where 82.70 is wholly inadequate and 82.72 is overkill and saying 70-75, he was setting a goal and then realizing it could be set higher.

chordalkeyboard 6y ago

> This is how leadership works when you're not a dictator. It's essentially a never-ending negotiation with a faceless and mercurial second party. I’ve had leaders that misrepresented facts in order to obtain compliance, as Fauci has, and leaders that were honest with me. I know which I prefer and I know which is considered ethical.

prox 6y ago
What facts where misrepresented? He gave a range of numbers that seemed likely by him.
- chordalkeyboard 6y ago
  >> “When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent,” Dr. Fauci said. “Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can nudge this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85.” He’s clearly saying he changed his statement based on the compliance of the population and not medical research. He misrepresented the medical consensus as to what percentage of the population would need to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity.

brobdingnagians 6y ago

A scientist's first commitment should be to evidence based truth. They should tell it how it is, then the leaders can figure out how to get there. If scientific papers came to a conclusion based on what people are willing to accept or what is popular, we'd rarely find anything surprising to advance science. Lying isn't science. Telling people to follow the science while your top scientist lies about what the science is-- that isn't healthy and it will make sure the average person starts to distrust the "science". If he's willing to lie about that, what else is he lying about?

matwood 6y ago
What exactly is he lying about here? He's shifting up with new science and as his opinion shifts. "In the pandemic’s early days, Dr. Fauci tended to cite the same 60 to 70 percent estimate that most experts did. About a month ago, he began saying “70, 75 percent” in television interviews. And last week, in an interview with CNBC News, he said “75, 80, 85 percent” and “75 to 80-plus percent.”" "In a telephone interview the next day, Dr. Fauci acknowledged that he had slowly but deliberately been moving the goal posts. He is doing so, he said, partly based on new science, and partly on his gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks." The problem Dr. Fauci and other scientist have is if they share their opinions and then evidence comes out that makes them change their opinions, they have people who will call them liars and pull quotes out of context. But, this is exactly how science works. > the average person starts to distrust the "science" Unfortunately the average person doesn't understand science and that is why they distrust it. I still see people citing papers relating SARS1 is killed by hydroxychlorqine in vitro, ignoring all the papers describing RCTs in vivo dealing with SARS2.
prox 6y ago
But the “truth” in science is consensus, which is hard for a virus that only has been out for a year. Some things can be said with a degree of confidence, others can not. That isn’t to say he should be vigilant when he speaks to be accurate, but sometimes advisement needs to be done before all the data is there.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jrumbut 6y ago

You're point is, to me, the most important. But in addition when you hear a number like 70-75% it's pretty clearly an estimate or guideline. It's not as though he was sitting there looking at the number 82.71, where 82.70 is wholly inadequate and 82.72 is overkill and saying 70-75, he was setting a goal and then realizing it could be set higher.