[tsotha]

>Information technology can absolutely save lives - I'd argue that a developer building medical software can save more lives than a PhD working on a treatment for cancer.

Anything you do that makes an economy a little more efficient frees up resources for other things. In the US those other things end up being more consumption, mostly, but in countries where people don't get enough to eat you could be saving lives. That's why they call it progress. Or used to, anyway.