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Dominic Cummings

Published podcast speaker

Claims
29
Episodes
1
Shows
1
Named items
0

Claim ledger

What Dominic said.

12 transcript-backed records

01 / evaluation

That a lot of things that obviously should have been solved elsewhere couldn’t be solved at any other part of the system. They all end up cascading upwards in these centralized bureaucracies, because ultimately only the president or only the Prime Minister can give certain kinds of orders.

“That a lot of things that obviously should have been solved elsewhere couldn’t be solved at any other part of the system. They all end up cascading upwards in these centralized bureaucracies, because ultimately only the president or only the Prime Minister can give certain kinds of orders.”
Publisher
Dwarkesh Podcast

02 / evaluation

” And I said, we could do that, but if we do that, we’ll just be the same as every other government for the last 20 years, which is chasing the bullshit in the media all day. And 4 years will pass and we won’t actually have done anything.

“” And I said, we could do that, but if we do that, we’ll just be the same as every other government for the last 20 years, which is chasing the bullshit in the media all day. And 4 years will pass and we won’t actually have done anything.”
Publisher
Dwarkesh Podcast

03 / evaluation

Still now, four years after we started this discussion, the Cabinet office and Number 10 are still fighting about Google Docs versus Teams, and have now recently resolved to hire some consultants for millions of pounds to spend a year doing a study on it.

“Still now, four years after we started this discussion, the Cabinet office and Number 10 are still fighting about Google Docs versus Teams, and have now recently resolved to hire some consultants for millions of pounds to spend a year doing a study on it.”
Publisher
Dwarkesh Podcast

06 / evaluation

The only person in the British state who has the legal and constitutional ability to say “This senior person in the Ministry of Defence or the Department of Education is clearly failing and they must be removed, and I order that they be removed” is the Prime Minister. That itself is problematic because the large part system will say, “Well, we can’t just dismiss them, or if we do dismiss them, then there’ll be legal repercussions.

“The only person in the British state who has the legal and constitutional ability to say “This senior person in the Ministry of Defence or the Department of Education is clearly failing and they must be removed, and I order that they be removed” is the Prime Minister. That itself is problematic because the large part system will say, “Well, we can’t just dismiss them, or if we do dismiss them, then there’ll be legal repercussions.”
Publisher
Dwarkesh Podcast

07 / evaluation

We now have to actually do all of these things. And in order to do all of these object level things, it requires facing these multi-decade long term, some of them over a century, in terms of how the actual constitutional system works, how the civil service works and everything else, versus his view, which is that it all just sounds like a lot of hard work and making a lot of enemies and it doesn’t really seem necessary because the Labour Party is a joke and I want to be friends with London.

“We now have to actually do all of these things. And in order to do all of these object level things, it requires facing these multi-decade long term, some of them over a century, in terms of how the actual constitutional system works, how the civil service works and everything else, versus his view, which is that it all just sounds like a lot of hard work and making a lot of enemies and it doesn’t really seem necessary because the Labour Party is a joke and I want to be friends with London.”
Publisher
Dwarkesh Podcast

08 / evaluation

The system here, in a lots of ways, the Prime Minister has more powers than the president does and is less legally constrained than the president is, because in all kinds of gaps, in lacunae, in the system, there are kind of ancient assumptions that the PM is operating with the authority of the Crown and royal prerogative.

“The system here, in a lots of ways, the Prime Minister has more powers than the president does and is less legally constrained than the president is, because in all kinds of gaps, in lacunae, in the system, there are kind of ancient assumptions that the PM is operating with the authority of the Crown and royal prerogative.”
Publisher
Dwarkesh Podcast

10 / evaluation

That’s actually the reality about how a lot of these jobs have evolved. So you have a person whose time is the single most precious asset, who, because of the dysfunctional bureaucracy, his decisions or her decisions, is the only thing that can actually break down the bureaucratic resistance and make sure something happens.

“That’s actually the reality about how a lot of these jobs have evolved. So you have a person whose time is the single most precious asset, who, because of the dysfunctional bureaucracy, his decisions or her decisions, is the only thing that can actually break down the bureaucratic resistance and make sure something happens.”
Publisher
Dwarkesh Podcast

11 / evaluation

I think the fact that people inside the system know that I actually do have priorities and I do actually care about them and I don’t care what the media says, and I have an extremely high tolerance for everyone going crazy in order to actually get what I want definitely, obviously, has an effect, because people will think, “Well, maybe we should do a deal with him.

“I think the fact that people inside the system know that I actually do have priorities and I do actually care about them and I don’t care what the media says, and I have an extremely high tolerance for everyone going crazy in order to actually get what I want definitely, obviously, has an effect, because people will think, “Well, maybe we should do a deal with him.”
Publisher
Dwarkesh Podcast

12 / evaluation

A lot of senior people who’ve talked a lot of shit about it obviously can’t admit any of these things publicly, but I think there is growing realization behind the scenes of what the reality is.

“A lot of senior people who’ve talked a lot of shit about it obviously can’t admit any of these things publicly, but I think there is growing realization behind the scenes of what the reality is.”
Publisher
Dwarkesh Podcast
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