1/ I’ll never forget the time a #drone team asked for my help testing their hypothesis that dropping opioids on people’s lawns in rural Mass. would be an effective way to solve a (non-existent) problem. Could you just give us a community to test this idea in?, they asked. I said-

2/ They would do better to create relationships with community, listen to their needs, & let the community decide what the problems were & how to solve them.

Then I asked-

3/ “Do you know how many households up there still lack high speed Internet access?”

Them: No.

Out of curiosity, I asked, “Would your drones be able to solve that problem, so folx could actually access the information & services they need in the 1st place?

Them: Yes, BUT-

4/ “But that’s already been done”, the drone operators said. It wouldn’t be “innovative” enough.

Now I’m no big fan of drones, #surveillance, or techno-solutionism.

But the fact that air-bombing opioids seems sexier than addressing structural health determinants makes me sad.

5/ Academia & industry need to create new metrics for success, ‘cause many of the current ones are literally killing us & communities we serve.

An h-index or new patent shouldn’t trump basic human decency, relief of suffering, or listening to & following community.

#NewFutures