Kurzweil and Technology

After watching Ray Kurzweil in both videos (Ray Kurzweil on How Technology Will Transform Us and Ray Kurzweil: A University for the Coming Singularity), I find myself in the most interesting situation. Kurzweil makes predictions about technology in the future that makes even the most cynical person dream of the possibilities, but when reality hits, I began to feel neutral about the future because I have so many unanswered questions.

One of Kurzweil predictions were that in the next decade or so we will be able to use nanotechonology to create things such as technology-based red blood cells, and by having these blood cells implanted in our bodies, people will be able to do things like run faster for longer periods without tiring. He also spoke about the human brain being "reverse-engineered" by 2020, which will allow our brains to be more powerful and smarter than our natural brains.

Those predictions sound great, but some of the many questions I have are:

1. Will medicine expand at such a great rate as well because the technology has to be placed in our bodies by someone?

2. If everyone is smarter, faster, and living longer, what will happen to our jobs, our economy, and our way of life? Between outsourcing and technology, we have lost many jobs in the last decade. Can you imagine the competition if everyone was smart and extraordinary, but jobs were shrinking even more due to advancing technology?

3. If we create such smart and advanced robots, or have a country where robots may have legal rights, how far do we alter the constitution so that there covered from things like "malfunctioning due to a rain storm"?

I don't mean to sound cynical or believe that Kurzweil's predictions are impossible; I just believe that there is a bigger picture to consider outside of technology itself.