Bedrooms and cars are the most obvious examples, but you can also rent camping spaces in Sweden, fields in Australia and washing machines in France

By 1973, domestic US sources of oil were peaking, and the nation was importing more of its oil, depending on a constant flow from abroad to keep cars on the road and machines running.

From self-service checkout lines at supermarket to industrial robots armed with saws and taught to carve up animal bodies in slaughter-houses, these ever-more-intelligent machines are now not just assisting workers but actually kicking them out of their jobs.

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.