I read Kurzweil's book and got excited about his predictions. But two recent trips: one to my dentist and the other to my doctor, left me with a saner view. My

I read Kurzweil's book and got excited about his predictions. But two recent trips: one to my dentist and the other to my doctor, left me with a saner view. My dentist used a new CAD/CAM system to carve a sliver of plastic to fit perfectly into a hole he'd drilled into my tooth. Total cost of that procedure: $500, uncovered by dental insurance (because it's a new procedure). This is progress, but at a cost. My doctor diagnosed multiple cysts in a private region. His cure: multiple operations, each leaving me limping out of the hospital with a bag of ice wrapped around my nuts and two week's of painful recovery. I asked for another procedure (sclerotherapy) that involves no cutting, no pain, lower cost, and no hospital or recovery time: he declined. So IMO the singularity may arrive if you can 1) endure the procedures, 2) have sufficient $$ to pay for them, 3) live long enough for doctors to get up to speed. It is the last that I doubt will occur. Medicine today remains barbaric and primitive, locked into a generational struggle for control and knowledge. Medicine promises wonders but rarely delivers. We've been promised cures for everything from cancer to cavities for 30 years but all that is delivered is crude cutting and poisoning (chemotherapy) by people who are little more than glorified plumbers. We funnel millions to the kingdoms of doctors/researchers, most whom are poor scientists, and get little in return. They get their Mercedes, a third home in Florida and free medical care. Before any singularity occurs there will have to be a social change: organized medicine needs to be knocked off it's pedestal and deregulated. The function of the doctor must be de-elevated and possibly fragmented. The current system is positively medieval, with doctors occupying the position of Catholic priests during the Middle Ages. Hell, they still write their prescriptions in Latin sometimes. And don't get me started on HMO's.