100 Quotes by Dominic Cummings

I've learned over the years that 'rational discussion' accomplishes almost nothing in politics, particularly with people better educated than average.

Most security failings happen because of human actions that are not envisaged when designing systems.

MPs have no real knowledge of how to function other than via gimmick and briefings.

Markets and science show that some fields of human endeavour work much better than political decision-making. I think we could do much much better if we will face our problems honestly.

Most educated people are not set up to listen or change their minds about politics, however sensible they are in other fields.

There are many brilliant people in the civil service and politics.

One of the things I wanted to do in the Department for Education was open up the policy making process and run things like wikis in open formats in order to a: start off with better ideas and then b: adapt to errors much faster than is possible with normal Whitehall systems.

Decentralised collaborations are inherently threatening to Whitehall's core principles.

Until the 20th century, medicine was more like politics than physics. Its forecasts were often bogus and its record grim. In the 1920s, statisticians invaded medicine and devised randomised controlled trials. Doctors, hating the challenge to their prestige, resisted but lost. Evidence-based medicine became routine and saved millions of lives.