WINNING THE WAR ON WAGES:

The "computational pathologist," a computer software program known as the C-Path, can examine thousands of tissue scans at lightning speed to diagnose patients with breast cancer and even predict their survival rates. Some believe the C-Path, which is built on digital imagery, is as good as or even better than a human doctor.

Quickly advancing technologies like the C-Path raise all sorts of questions for economists about the future of the U.S. workforce. Labor economists have long expected computers to displace workers who perform routine tasks -- for example, file clerks, cashiers and bank tellers -- but these days, economists are in a debate with techno-optimists over whether technology will also displace higher-skilled, professional jobs, such as doctors, lawyers and (yes) writers.

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