Laying out her case logically, she peppered her talk with OECD and US Centers for Disease Control report statistics and even quoted former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. Most impressive was Project Debater's ability to listen to Natarajan's arguments in real time, her display blinking away all the time, and counter them with a reasonable, fact-based rebuttal. She even managed some emotive flourishes at one point saying, "to be clear, my intention is not to leave a suitcase full of money for everyone to grab at will."

Last night's debate in San Francisco between Project Debater, an artificial intelligence engine based on Watson, and Harish Natarajan, the 2016 …

Am I alone in thinking that it is a shame we can fix fewer things by ourselves these days? Personally, I always drew great satisfaction from fixing a broken piece of equipment. I enjoyed opening it – against the manufacturers' warnings – to discover how it actually worked, and then fix it using superglue or a paperclip. We are increasingly denied this feeling of being in control. It started with simple, loose parts being replaced by horrendously expensive integrated parts.

Technology is positioned to reshape the future of work. But without critical components--acceptance and adoption by people--it can never achieve its full impact. Why, when digital technology is so powerful, should organizations still prize the contributions of their people? Rick Lash is a senior client partner with the firm. While digital technology is enabling disruption--think Uber, Airbnb or Amazon--it's also facilitating an era of incredible opportunity.