The Future of the Professions

It is a sign of the times that more people signed up for Harvard's online courses in a single year than have attended the University in its 377-year history. Knowledge and expertise is now increasingly available online, and people are migrating there for information. In the same way, there are more unique visits each month to the Web MD network than to all the doctors working in the US. In the context of this book, health and education are two of eight professions examined in some detail, the others being divinity, law, journalism, management consulting, tax and audit, and architecture. The fundamental issue is how best to share expertise. Traditionally, this has been through expert professionals requiring extensive training and regulation making up a 'grand bargain' whereby money is traded for expertise.

The authors look at individual as well as general trends, with an emphasis on transformation by technology through increasingly capable systems that can replace some human functioning. The second part looks at the changing relationship between information and technology (automation and innovation, for instance), as well as the production and distribution of knowledge in the context of increasingly connected humans. They see the possibility of the decomposition of individual tasks within the professions so that one can assess whether these are best carried out by humans and technology. They address potential objections and anxieties to their thesis but conclude that the case for liberating rather than enclosing professional knowledge is very strong, especially if one adopts John Rawls' 'veil of ignorance' and does not know the role one would play in society. The study is exceptionally well informed and and important contribution to thinking about the future of professional work.