Scientists who are partial to theory, that is, scientists who aim at discovering new theories and creating new systems, basically do not need to obey politicians, because a major feature of science is objectivity and will not change with people's will, which is well known to all qualified politicians.

However, practical or commercial scientists need to obey politicians, because these things are not completely objective. For example, the very popular gene editing event a while ago was a decision made by the so-called "scientists" in private, which seriously violated the ethical requirements and led to a sharp decline in the international reputation of China's medical profession. Another example is new energy vehicles. The main schools are lithium batteries and fuel cells. Technically, there is no saying that it is better or worse, but we must choose a road to vigorously promote and strive for it, because our industries are all on this road. If failure will lead to many serious consequences, scientists must obey politicians in this case.

To put it simply, you don't have to obey the question "how is this thing?"

We must obey the question of "how to use this thing"