We turn to health authorities to try to manage this—the obvious and my preferred solution—but let's just say that it's pretty clear that this hasn't been, to put it politely, a smooth and consistent process. I say this because I want it to be better, but reality is reality.
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Anyway, all the intra-expert (yes, intra-expert: the credentialed experts do NOT have a consensus on many key questions) and intra-elite debate (fine, put me in it if you want) but doesn't solve our problem. Doesn't even address it.
4 replies 8 retweets 291 likesShow this thread -
(Folks, feel free NOT to send me your opinions on Nate Silver, or any single pundit right after I kinda said excessive focus on a single person isn't addressing the problem. Intra-elite debates or jostling are... they are what they are. Uninteresting. Nobody has crystal balls).
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zeynep tufekci Retweeted zeynep tufekci
Let me add this here. I have seen the full range of opinion on FDAs steps from credentialed experts. No surprise! It's a very tough moment to navigate and NOBODY has "the" absolute right answer because we aren't solving a quadratic equation here.https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1382345267148685313 …
zeynep tufekci added,
zeynep tufekciVerified account @zeynepReplying to @EricColumbusI have seen the full range (good, bad, terrible) from experts with all the credentials you want, plus an enormous range of private opinion as well (these fields tend to be quite top down in expressing dissent, as we saw all year, but they are also many outspoken ones).14 replies 25 retweets 326 likesShow this thread -
Conclusion for now, from my first newsletter titled "Against Nostalgia." We are in a transition: a mismatch between our reality and our cultural and institutional capacity to manage it. Nostalgia for the past (common yearning) isn't going to solve this. https://www.theinsight.org/p/against-nostalgia …pic.twitter.com/jbRLSVgPph
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zeynep tufekci Retweeted Matthew Herper
Gatekeepers—even weakened—and public health authorities have a huge role to play but the question is way beyond "message". It's about developing capacity for this new public sphere. Constantly saying "listen to experts" (which ones?) doesn't address this.https://twitter.com/matthewherper/status/1382369855861616642 …
zeynep tufekci added,
Matthew HerperVerified account @matthewherperReplying to @zeynepA different question. Yes, there are no gatekeepers. But a lot of yesterday's commentary assumed gatekeepers can control public opinion. Do we want public health officials to think in terms of how their message resonates with the populace? Is that the right framing?8 replies 12 retweets 187 likesShow this thread -
Serious? Without claiming this person is right, or that I agree, how about a public health professor at Johns Hopkins University with an MD and an MPH and who teaches public health policy? Examples are numerous and "expert" opinion is all over the place. https://twitter.com/GarrSigmund/status/1382378733248581634 …pic.twitter.com/7zKd8j30a2
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zeynep tufekci Retweeted
First, I'm "ranting" about my actual area of expertise for once!
By your logic, you should only listen to me on this. Two, what I think about the surgeon general is irrelevant. Three, what did you think about the previous surgeon general and his opinions?https://twitter.com/grtamericanovel/status/1382370181838671874 …zeynep tufekci added,
This Tweet is unavailable.8 replies 4 retweets 166 likesShow this thread -
zeynep tufekci Retweeted
Congratulations, you have just become a Twitter pundit and proven my point: if we are supposed to pick and choose which surgeon general to trust, "stop ranting and listen to the surgeon general" does not solve the problem I'm trying to explain. https://twitter.com/grtamericanovel/status/1382383598221856771 …
zeynep tufekci added,
This Tweet is unavailable.10 replies 10 retweets 269 likesShow this thread -
*takes a risk to write outside her core field for a year because it's a global crisis* *tries for once to actually comment on her core field, where she has book, articles, all the classic credentials*

pic.twitter.com/dvR91NrAN3
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zeynep tufekci Retweeted Jessica Pickett
To conclude the day, ACIP meeting was interesting and it included assertions from experts ranging from one calling the pause "devastating" to others saying restarting now would be "unacceptable". These are necessarily "no single right answer" questions.https://twitter.com/pickettjessica/status/1382445712122724359 …
zeynep tufekci added,
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So, simultaneously, we have: a new public sphere which our institutions weren't designed for; fairly robust intra-expert disagreement on the right answer to many key questions (unsurprising given the moment); and lots of decisions under uncertainty. *That's* the challenge.
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Replying to @zeynep
But did they take the opportunity to trash
@NateSilver538 ?0 replies 0 retweets 0 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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