There’s an old Dilbert strip in which Dilbert works for months to show the pointy-haired boss that computers are causing losses in productivity, not gains. It’s based on real analyses, however, presented in two economics journals and recounted by Chander Velu and Fathiro Putra in the journal Nature.
From 1961 through 1975 the productivity per person in major corporations gained an average of 2.04% per year. This dropped to only 1.26% from 1976 through 1991 as computers were implemented in a big way, only recovering to 2.04% later.
We can debate what “productivity” means and how it was measured but there is a real effect here. The paradox is attributed to the problems of learning to use the devices, and even figuring out what to use them for! Also, businesses didn’t modify their core processes to make use of computers effectively.
Those of us old enough to have been through the transition likely agree with the results. Who among us has not felt the frustration or rage at, first, the exploding number of demands by upper-ups asking for more and more digital worksheets, and, second, at the endless and maddening changes in operating systems or apps? Why DID they move those commands in Word to new places on the ribbon?
Velu and Putra had a longer vision: how disruptive to productivity will quantum computers be when they come on line with a big learning curve? We shall see, maybe.
This has been an outreach activity of the Las Cruces Academy, viewable at GreatSchools.org
