ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the notion of normative force, raising the question of how the force of law depends on its current technological embodiment and what normative force will emanate from data-driven intelligence. It assesses the way lawyers regard the regulation of society. The chapter develops a generic concept of normativity, resulting in a comparison between legal and technological normativity. The difference between constitutive and regulative rules derives from Searle, who discriminates between brute facts, which can be the object of regulation but cannot be constituted by human interaction, and institutional facts, which can only be constituted by social interaction. Searle defines brute facts as facts that can exist independently of human beings and their institutions, while his institutional facts depend on human institution. A norm that is meant to regulate human action can be deliberately issued for; explicitly recognized by; and/or tacitly developed in the practices of a certain community or collective.
