In the tech blogosphere, there is very rarely a discussion of the ethics of what we produce. Jonathan Harris decided to do something about it with his essay, “Modern Medicine,” which posits that technologists are really “medicine men” for today’s society. The metaphor is apt, getting to the ability to harm or heal, as well as the outsized level of influence that these rare individuals have on society.

In it, he gives us some useful frameworks with which to think about our roles as designers, engineers, makers: what are the urges in people that we satisfy with what we make? (What do we medicate?) Do we create connection economies or attention economies? Are we dealers or healers?

The essay goes beyond just comparing addictive technological products (Angry Birds, Facebook) to drugs, which is appropriate if clichéd. It turns this on its head and proposes that tech also has the unique power to do good: to heal, to extend our faculties, to remove blockages—and in this respect it, too, is a lot like drugs.

The drug analogy is further appropriate, because it alludes prophetically to the extent of our dependency on technology in the future. Already we depend on blood pressure regulators, antidepressants, antihistamines, just to get us through each day. And one day, tech will become like that: a bionic part of ourselves, fused physiologically with our bodies. It has already begun the process of fusing with our minds.

When it gets there, there will be important ethical questions to grapple with, much like the medical community grapples with them today.

So why not start now?

Modern Medicine, by Jonathan Harris