We are at a moment of crisis. The narrative of the left blames neo-liberalism, while that of the right the deep state. They are both wrong. Understanding the origins of the current health crisis - one of many - is the key to understanding everything else. Sometime in the 1960s, a managerial logic took over the health sector. Doctors’ human judgement was replaced by algorithmic thinking and reliance on metrics that could be manipulated with drugs replaced the lived experience of patients. Then the same happened to economics. Unthinking techniques and reliance on metrics eventually seeped into politics. Curing contemporary medicine of its technocracy could be the model for resolving all our other crises, argues David Healy.
Join the conversation