We do know that, just as they have over the course of history, new technologies will continue to change our quality of life, improving the state of mankind by giving us previously unthinkable capabilities.

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Mr. Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is the author, most recently, of "War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today" (Gotham Books, 2006).

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"As it marks the return of golf to the Olympic Games after over a century of absence, this course represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the sport, " said Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the president of the Rio organizing committee.

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Of course, soon both President Carter and Secretary Schlesinger became history and DOE funding for new energy technologies did as well.

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And of course, a couple of new fiery characters will get written into the last chapter of the history of the labor movement.

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