It's Called The Human Condition

Hmm - Sometimes, when you look at religion, and then look at pretty much anything else, there are just too many similarities to pass off as coincidence.  Our brains must have some huge faith circuits built into them...

"When will God perform His next miracle?" - "He doesn't work like that anymore."

"When will AdSense make me rich?" - "It doesn't work like that anymore."

"When will someone come up with a treatment for emphysema?" - "It doesn't work like that - more chance they'll find a cure for Parkinson's, for that LRRK2 gene."

See, I've just read that Sergei Brin, one of the billionnaire founders of The Google Empire, has started a blog where he states that his genes carry a mutation known as G2019S which apparently makes him more prone to develop Parkinson's.

I'm distressed for him, of course - knowing one is at more risk than average for something is distressing and disquieting.  But come on Sergei - you're only "substantially more predisposed to" your illness.  Me, on the other hand, I'm 100% certain I have emphysema and it will kill me well before my time.  

You, with several billion dollars at your disposal, you can fund a dozen networked labs with the latest technology to work on a solution to your problem.  Would you plough similar funds into labs to fund a cure for dying of slow suffocation?  "Ah, no - I don't work like that these days..."

Parkinson's and emphysema (and every other major debilitating illnesses) all do one thing the same - they effectively shrink your available horizon, proscribe doing certain things, prevent certain things.  The nastiest of them, they proscribe life itself at some point  There are millions of people in a similar situation.  So yeah Sergei - I'll of course pray to all the relevant bodies - whatever gods are approrpiate, Google, Microsoft, Technology - that they find a way to nail Parkinson's for you once and for all.  But I'll be praying harder for a lottery win so I can enjoy my remaining years and help find a way to get new lungs that isn't so risky.  AdSense just isn't going to do it for me... %)