every academic said of transgressive thing or had a transgressive sign expressed it publicly faced

tremendous pressure to not do that, including the board of losing their jobs, losing their

reputation. I recently had the pleasure of attending a pandemic planning conference at Stanford University.

It was really the first of its kind, and that it brought together a wide range

of voices on the topic, in an academic setting, and it was held under the auspices of the

New Stanford President, Jonathan Levin. And I think it's expanded the range of things that are allowed

to be said in polite society, if you will. I mean, that was the purpose of the conference,

was to essentially open the floodgates of these kinds of events taking place everywhere.

Today I'm sitting down to the lead organizer of the conference, Stanford University Professor of Health Policy, Dr. J. Betateria.

The danger of the government presuming that it has sole possession of the truth, when it evidently doesn't, is much worse than some, you know,

somebody in the middle of nowhere posting something on the internet that's wrong.

This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Jan Yekeleck.

Dr. Dave Bata-Tarion, such a pleasure to have you back on American Thought Leaders.

Nice to see you, Yad.

So congratulations on winning the Zimmer Medal.

You know, the Academy of American Science and Letters.

I think it's the second award.

Salman Rushdie was the first.

I mean, what are you feeling with this new award?

I mean, it's obviously a great honor.

The award, I think, was given to me for sticking my neck out during the pandemic

at a time when many, many other scientists and intellectuals didn't.

...