#ABATECHSHOW Keynote: The Centralization Of Computers And The Value Of People
Human experience and talent have a necessary place even in an industry that is heavily automated. Robots won't be taking over your jobs... yet.
The speaker at the keynote presentation of the 2015 ABA TECHSHOW was Nicholas Carr, author of The Glass Cage: Automation and Us (affiliate link). Carr often speaks on computerization and its effects on work and the workplace. Carr started out with the story of Burden’s Water Wheel, which was originally put into place in the 1850s and consolidated power generation. By building the biggest most efficient water wheel, Burden gained a distinct advantage over his competitors. No one could compete.
But 50 years later after the turn of 20th century, the Wheel lay in disuse. Power generation had been conglomerated. The power grid had grown. Power generation was not individually handled by companies, but instead had grown vast and large. Utilities arose and displaces the Wheel. It also displaced engineers, investment in equipment, and numerous jobs. What had been cutting edge a few decades ago now lay fallow. It didn’t make sense for companies to maintain their own power generation. It was better for it to be outsourced to someone else.
Carr used this story to draw an analogy to the rapid rise and dispersion of computers. Three decades ago, computers were hulking machines that offered limited functionality. Mostly due to the immense costs involved. But Moore’s Law held true. Computers got faster, smaller, and cheaper. Where companies had once had one large computer, they now had many small ones. And then an infrastructure to manage them. Data racks, email servers, back-up sites, and IT staff.
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But technology has moved on. Computer processing and storage is moving to the cloud. The information grid has grown in width and depth. Everything is moving to the cloud. Companies are no longer maintaining their own IT system and instead choosing to outsource it all. The same is true for law firms. Almost every technology provider here on the ABA TECHSHOW Expo floor is cloud-based. I say almost, because there might be the off chance that one is locally installed, but honestly I haven’t seen one.
Along with this distribution and growth, comes power. Immense computer analysis and data processing. The power of applying this immense power to “big data” using computer algorithms in an attempt to automate white-collar jobs just as the industrial revolution automated many blue-collar jobs. Carr indicated that no profession was safe. From architects to doctors to lawyers, technology companies are looking at ways computers can do their jobs.
Yet despite the rise in computerization and automation, Carr also took the time to emphasize the value of people. He spoke of how recently, Toyota actually choose to replace some robots in some of their factories with people. Toyota found that people are still valuable. They can think critically, and beyond their set, programmed job. That in rushing to replace craftspeople with robots had led to human expertise being drained from company. It was impeding innovation and leading to errors. It became apparent that human experience and talent have a necessary place even in an industry that is heavily automated.
So while Carr indicated that automation was coming to every industry, even those that are creative and intellectual in nature, that there is a value in having people always be a part of the process. That people’s real value was in deep thought. Taking the time to study and analyze problems and situations from multiple angles. Carr brought up the image of Rodan’s The Thinker as an iconic representation of deep thought. Something that almost seems out of style. But Carr’s final point was that despite all the changes that computers have brought, that this style of thought is the most valuable thing knowledge-workers can provide.
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Funny thing about Carr ending off with that point. The Law Practice Management Division of the ABA, which puts on the TECHSHOW, published a book a couple years ago with Rodan’s The Thinker on the cover (affiliate link). I think it’s called The Practice.
Keith Lee practices law at Hamer Law Group, LLC in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes about professional development, the law, the universe, and everything at Associate’s Mind. He is also the author of The Marble and The Sculptor: From Law School To Law Practice (affiliate link), published by the ABA. You can reach him at keith.lee@hamerlawgroup.com or on Twitter at @associatesmind.