ABSTRACT
In this last chapter, two themes from the earlier text are summarized and elaborated on. One is arguments for a science of norms, and the other is how this broadened understanding of norms and law becomes necessary in order to catch the transition from an industrial to a digital societal era.
In the first case, methodological implications of a science about norms is highlighted. Furthermore, an instrument for self-regulation is developed: strategic normative thinking (SNT). Law is here complemented in a period of time when it increasingly falls short as a regulative tool.
The more purpose-driven a system, the stronger the system will be in relation to other systems. This makes the economic system dominant over the social system, the technical system over ecological, etc. As result of digital technology, technical norms are gaining an even stronger inherent normativity. Code in itself becomes one of the regulative pillars of society, and artificial intelligence (AI) develops more and more independently of human will. This makes regulatory problems rather a matter of choice of future options than compromises within the framework of one alternative. We are faced with qualitatively new regulation phenomena.
