# Health technology is uniquely sexy Health technology is one of the most direct and obvious ways for technology to help people. Ideally, it takes someone who has a clear, potentially life-ending problem, and makes that problem go away. Everybody has some first-hand experience with the ravages of illness, so everybody understands the problems that health technology is solving and why they are important. Assuming you think more people living longer, healthier lives is a good thing, health technology is close to an unmitigated good. By contrast, most other technologies are not unmitigated goods — they can have negative externalities, unintended consequences, and bad actors can use them to actively commit harm. Furthermore, most other technology helps people through second-order effects. [[Second order effects dominate the history of technology]] This indirection between technology and its impact on life quality makes it harder to justify on altruistic grounds and drastically increases uncertainty over whether its success is worthwhile. Supporting health technology is not just altruism: all things being equal, most of us want longer, healthier lives for ourselves and the people we care about. All of this means that on the margin, it is much more satisfying and justifiable to work on or financially support health technology.