I have just returned from the ITechLaw European conference in Amsterdam where many of the world's leading IT lawyers were gathered for a two day event.
I have been practising IT law for over three decades and I am still learning new things. That was one of my main reasons for attending the conference. The talks included sessions on remote robotics and 3 D printing which introduce new technology and pose new legal challenges. If, for example, you control a robotic avatar a thousand miles away and make it hit somebody can you be liable for assault?
And yet there seem to be many advisers and consultants who think that knowledge is finite - and they have it all. This is a bit like the Victorian scientists who thought they had pretty much understood everything, only to discover the existence of subatomic components meaning atoms were after all divisible - so they had to start all over again.
Truly as somebody once said "An expert is somebody who knows how little they know". We can and should all continue learning whatever our age and experience and especially if we purport to be "experts".
I have been practising IT law for over three decades and I am still learning new things. That was one of my main reasons for attending the conference. The talks included sessions on remote robotics and 3 D printing which introduce new technology and pose new legal challenges. If, for example, you control a robotic avatar a thousand miles away and make it hit somebody can you be liable for assault?
And yet there seem to be many advisers and consultants who think that knowledge is finite - and they have it all. This is a bit like the Victorian scientists who thought they had pretty much understood everything, only to discover the existence of subatomic components meaning atoms were after all divisible - so they had to start all over again.
Truly as somebody once said "An expert is somebody who knows how little they know". We can and should all continue learning whatever our age and experience and especially if we purport to be "experts".
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