Whether this is right, and if so where and when the ecological axe will fall, is hard to determine with any precision—which is why governments and financial institutions are only beginning to bring such risks into their economic calculations.

Same goes for surgeons, who're using robotic systems to perform an ever-growing list of operations-not because the machines save money but because, thanks to the greater precision of robots, the patients recover in less time and have fewer complications, says Dr. Myriam Curet.

They beat humans in precision

give the right computer a massive database of faces, and it can process what it sees—then recognize a face it's told to find—with remarkable speed and precision.