It’s been two weeks since my last note, and I can’t stop thinking about Machine Law. It’s consuming my thoughts. I find myself working out technical solutions in my head at night, thinking through implementation details during my commute, sketching out ideas whenever I have a spare moment.

The Expanding Vision

The potential impact feels increasingly profound. Conversations with the UK National Archives team have opened new perspectives. Discussions here in the Netherlands about event sourcing are revealing technical possibilities I hadn’t considered. Conversations with legal scholars are adding layers I hadn’t even considered.

Each conversation adds a new dimension to what might be possible. The technical foundation seems sound. The legal framework could work. The benefits for citizens, civil servants, and society feel tangible.

The Growing Doubts

But with each expanding possibility comes a matching doubt. Isn’t this all too megalomaniacal? Isn’t this echoing some of the things we’re seeing in the US right now? Am I oversimplifying complex legal and social processes into neat technical boxes?

The fear that this could all come to nothing is becoming more real. There seem to be plenty valid arguments that could shut this down all together. It is too technocratic. Are we just creating a more sophisticated version of “computer says no”? Who’s even asking for this? Who are we to even attempt this transformation?

The Paradox

Perhaps this is the natural tension in any ambitious project. The same aspects that make it exciting - its scope, its potential impact, its fundamental nature - are exactly what make it frightening.

The question isn’t whether these doubts are valid - they absolutely are. The question is whether they should stop us from trying. Whether the potential benefits outweigh the very real risks of getting it wrong.

Moving Forward

For now, I’m choosing to sit with both the excitement and the doubt. To let them inform each other. The fears about technocracy push me to think harder about human-centered design. The concerns about oversimplification drive me to look more deeply at edge cases and complexity.

The experiments continue. The conversations expand. And maybe that’s exactly where we need to be right now - holding both the possibility and the doubt, letting them shape what this could become.