The case for computer-based healthcare

The victory of Watson, an artificial-intelligence system designed to dominate the quiz show Jeopardy!, over the country's best nerds in 2011 may not be the equal of John Henry struggling against a steam-powered drill in the annals of man versus machine. But the replacement of Jeopardy!'s human competitors with a computer algorithm may signal a trend that could soon spread through the health care sector as Obamacare is implemented. That's the prophecy of venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. Khosla, a prominent Silicon Valley investor, has predicted that computers will replace 80 percent of what doctors do in a couple of decades.