I loved Kurzweil's book. Unfortunately in all the talk about Moore's Law and exponential growth, Murphy's Law was forgotten (perhaps in a self-referencing manif

I loved Kurzweil's book. Unfortunately in all the talk about Moore's Law and exponential growth, Murphy's Law was forgotten (perhaps in a self-referencing manifestation of the same law). Example: My HMO has figured out that, if a patient has a serious chronic ailment (e.g., diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.) then it is cheaper for them should the patient die: I. Treat patient: cost of treatment $100 cost of future treatments $??? Highly-variable costs borne largely by the HMO. II. Let patient die: cost of treatment $100 cost of future treatments $ 0 Cost to HMO limited to $100. Remaining costs borne by the deceased's life insurance company. The perfect HMO patient is one who never visits his doctor and then dies quickly. Should the HMO increase profitability by speeding their chronically-ill patients to a painless death? Stockholders cry "Yes!"; patients whimper a fearful "No." Needless to say some cognitive dissonance must arise should one's income be so directly tied to one's ability to (not) keep one's patients alive. Economic and social conflicts within the medical system are a greater hindrance to the singularity than are technical hurdles.