The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts

Susskind, Richard; Susskind, Daniel

ISBN 10: 1511392711 ISBN 13: 9781511392716

Publisher: Audible Studios on Brilliance audio, 2016

Synopsis

This book predicts the decline of today's professions and describes the people and systems that will replace them. In an Internet society, according to Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, we will neither need nor want doctors, teachers, accountants, architects, the clergy, consultants, lawyers, and many others, to work as they did in the 20th century.

The Future of the Professions explains how "increasingly capable systems"—from telepresence to artificial intelligence—will bring fundamental change in the way that the "practical expertise" of specialists is made available in society.

The authors challenge the "grand bargain"—the arrangement that grants various monopolies to today's professionals. They argue that our current professions are antiquated, opaque and no longer affordable, and that the expertise of their best is enjoyed only by a few. In their place, they propose six new models for producing and distributing expertise in society.

The book raises important practical and moral questions. In an era when machines can out-perform human beings at most tasks, what are the prospects for employment, who should own and control online expertise, and what tasks should be reserved exclusively for people?

Based on the authors' in-depth research of more than ten professions, and illustrated by numerous examples from each, this is the first book to assess and question the relevance of the professions in the 21st century.

About this title

Review

The prognosis is persuasive. (Kevin Stannard, Conference & Common Room)

Compelling reading. (Greg Wildisen, New Law Journal)

It should be read by any information professional concerned about the future. (Tom Wilson, Information Research)

Impeccably researched and compelling... The Future of the Professions is a must read for all professionals and policy makers. (Kathy Laster, Law and Courts in an Online World)

Interesting and highly pertinent... The authors have written an interesting polemic that ought to be read by those that do not know. (Digital Evidence and Electronic Signature Law Review)

Richard and Daniel Susskind's The Future of the Professions: How technology will transform the work of human experts (Oxford) belongs to a new genre of reflection and prediction. It is no Luddite lament for a world we have lost, but surveys rapid change with insight and optimism. (Jonathan Clark, Books of the Year 2016, Times Literary Supplement)

The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts, is a must read for anyone who wants to gain insights into where the legal profession is going ... Nothing else I have read more clearly and convincingly elucidates the future of legal services and how technology will transform the traditional practice of law. (Dan Pinnington, Slaw.)

Books of the Year 2015: Best Books 2015 (Lorien Kite, Financial Times)

Books of the Year 2015 (New Scientist)

Perhaps the forthcoming tidal wave of technology set to engulf us all will throw up new opportunities for the legal profession ― which is probably why just about every lawyer in London, so we are told, has bought a copy of this challenging, provocative, timely and important book. If you care about the future of your profession and wish to add further comment to the raging controversies surrounding it, better get yourself a copy now. (Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richard Green Chambers)

About the Author

PROFESSOR RICHARD SUSSKIND OBE is an author, speaker, and independent adviser to international professional firms and national governments. He is President of the Society for Computers and Law, IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England, and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Oxford Internet Institute. His numerous books include the best-sellers, The End of Lawyers? (OUP, 2008) and Tomorrow's Lawyers (OUP, 2013), his work has been translated into more than 10 languages, and he has been invited to speak in over 40 countries.

DANIEL SUSSKIND is a Lecturer in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford, where he teaches and researches, and from where he has two degrees in economics. Previously, he worked for the British Government - in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and as a Senior Policy Adviser at the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Audible Studios on Brilliance audio
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1511392711
• ISBN 13: 9781511392716
• Binding: MP3 CD