in the category of unintelligent machines, committed to a single task such as turning a bolt or painting a car door. Nearly half of them work in the auto industry, which is still the largest employer (of humans) in the United States.

In the future, economists may start counting robots the way they now count gains in the working-age population, as a driver of growth. For much of the world, robots will stand alongside immigrants, women and the elderly as a fourth pool of labor.

Whether by design or accident, many of the countries with the most rapidly aging populations already have the most robots. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the nations with the highest density of industrial robots include South Korea, with 531 per 10,000 employees, Japanafter Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 tsunami were done one or two weeks later.

Northeasterners, Catholics Donate More Heavily

As might be expected, there are sizable socio-economic differences in reported donations and intentions to donate to earthquake relief efforts. A quarter (25%) of those with family incomes of $75,000 or more say they have made a donation to help Haitian earthquake victims, compared with just 10% of those with incomes of less than $30,000.

There also is a sizable regional gap in reported donations to those affected by the earthquake: 27% of those living in the Northeast say they have given to Haitian relief; that compares with 17% in the South, 16% in the West and 14% in the Midwest. In addition, more Catholics (24%) than Protestants (15%) say they have