As Silicon Valley keeps corrupting our language with its endless glorification of disruption and efficiency — concepts at odds with the vocabulary of democracy — our ability to question the "how" of politics is weakened. Silicon Valley's default answer to the how of politics is what I call solutionism: problems are to be dealt with via apps, sensors, and feedback loops — all provided by startups.

I've been occasionally skeptical of technological solutionism for development issues, but it's refreshing when the solutions are actually low-tech things that are relatively easy to obtain (and maintain) in those countries. And it's even better when they actually work.

Others might argue that "solutionism" is simply an empty manipulation of words — to which the solutionist might reply, "Yes, that's it! I reframed denial into something quite manageable and easy to solve." By this "fancy reframe," we have placed clients exactly where they want to be anyway, encouraging them to seek out solutions rather than getting stuck with a denial label.