Goodbye, Technopolis

Dominic Cummings reached near the apex of British politics with ambitions of building a ‘meritocratic technopolis’. Why did these dreams implode so spectacularly? Could they ever have been fulfilled?

A few weeks ago, the most high-profile special adviser in British government left office, carrying ARPA, the superforecaster, Napoleon’s retreat from Russia, Mistah Kurtz, Otto von Bismarck, the battlements of Barnard Castle, and a coterie of visionary technologists…