The Problem With Sugar-Daddy Science - The Atlantic
►https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/problem-sugar-daddy-science/598231
research and philanthropy should recognize that improving people’s lives usually involves a series of adjustments to complex systems, not a single revolutionary invention. The Boston-based nonprofit Partners in Health is a model here. It tackles problems that eluded medical charities for decades, such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, by taking on underlying issues—like the malnutrition that makes people vulnerable to TB in the first place—instead of just prescribing drugs. Instead of attempting to build a food computer, a lab could identify a more immediate need, such as cheap, easy-to-clean food-handling equipment, and invent that. No one should fear losing prestige by fixing real problems.