Smart machines and the future of jobs - The Boston Globe

SINCE THE EARLY 1800s, several waves of technological change have transformed how we work and live. Each new technological marvel -- the steam engine, railroad, ocean steamship, telegraph, harvester, automobile, radio, airplane, TV, computer, satellite, mobile phone, and now the Internet -- has changed our home lives, communities, workplaces, schools, and leisure time. For two centuries we've asked whether ever-more-powerful machines would free us from drudgery or would instead enslave us. The question is becoming urgent. IBM's Deep Blue and other chess-playing computers now routinely beat the world's chess champions.