So machines may soon be ready to perform many tasks that currently require large amounts of human labor.
This would result in an effective cure for a childhood illness that currently requires daily injections of insulin for life to control glucose levels in the blood.
Drones also improve safety: they can be used to do jobs, such as inspecting power lines, that currently require dangling a man from a helicopter.
This puzzles bouncers, as it does instructors who teach one- and two-day courses for the smattering of local authorities that currently require them.
"Unfortunately," he added, "with the multiple inquiries and investigations that currently require much of my time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate fully on what is most important to Enron's stakeholders".
Labour has made the commitment in principle to continuous at-sea deterrence that currently requires a four-submarine fleet, but senior opposition figures, including the former defence secretary Lord Browne, and the Lib Dem elder statesman Menzies Campbell, anticipate a further inquiry.
It was designed to handle simple tasks, like replacing external batteries on the station, that currently require astronauts to undertake a risky spacewalk; mission managers said it would also be used to help spacewalkers.
The broadcasters want to streamline a copyright system that currently requires them to obtain separate agreements from actors, directors, musicians and others if they want to use programs on the Internet.
The main goals of the mission are delivering part of a new Japanese science laboratory to the station and a two-armed robotic assistant named Dextre that will be able to take on some of the outside tasks that currently require a spacewalking human to perform.
Web-enabled A.T.M.'s will get a second wire, using the Internet's TCP/IP protocol to connect to servers for almost any service that can be delivered over the Web itself, including software upgrades that currently require an expensive visit to the machine.
