Structural Memory
What I write about
I study how systems behave and how they could behave humanely.
Modern infrastructures (platforms, hospitals, and bureaucracies) often speak the language of care while acting without it. I write about that gap between moral fluency and moral capacity, and how to close it through design.
What this is
Structural Memory is a collection of essays that treat ethics as infrastructure.
Each piece starts with a question:
If a system can cause harm automatically, how could it also stop itself automatically?
I write about power, design, maintenance, corrigibility, and the right to error.
The goal is to build language for systems that can feel without being fooled.
What I believe
Care should not rely on saints.
Ethics should not depend on heroism.
A humane system is one that can detect harm, stop itself, and repair before anyone begs it to.
I prefer roughness over smoothness, repair over purity, and accountability over charisma.
What you’ll find here
Philosophical essays that read like design briefs
Field notes from healthcare, tech, and infrastructure
Ideas you can test in policy, product, or culture
I publish a few times a week. You can browse the archive or start with:
About me
I’m Kanav Jain, a biomedical engineer turned systems designer.
I used to build hospital software at Epic and later co-founded Andwise, a company that helped physicians manage financial stress. Those experiences taught me how design decides who carries pain, and how systems offload their moral load onto people.
Now I write, research, and occasionally consult on design ethics, healthcare systems, and corrigibility.
Why I keep writing
A humane world is not one without error. It is one where error is survivable.
Smooth systems lie. Honest ones show their seams.
That is what I am building toward: architectures of care that can hold their own conscience.
If posthumanism says we have never been purely human, my answer is simple:
Let’s build systems that can behave humanely.
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→ Reach out if you’re building or studying systems that touch people’s lives
