UK Chief Digital Advisor: COVID Lockdown Was Guesswork, UK Runs on 19th Century Operating System

Ben Warner, former Special Advisor for Data and Technology at 10 Downing Street, takes us behind the closed doors of government decision-making during the UK's biggest crisis.Was the "Rule of Six" actually based on science, or just a guess? Why does a Formula 1 team have better technology than the Prime Minister? And is the UK government fundamentally broken by a "19th Century Operating System"?In this conversation, we expose the stark reality of how decisions are made inside Number 10. We explore the founding of the "10DS" data science unit and the critical disconnect between epidemiological modeling and understanding real human behavior.The discussion touches on the chaos of the COVID response, the technological deficit crippling the Civil Service, and Ben’s new venture, Electric Twin, which aims to finally solve the problem of predicting how people act.If you’re curious about the intersection of politics and technology, the truth about lockdown decisions, or how AI can modernize the state, this conversation is for you.