Computable Authority

After this lesson, the reader should understand:

• 01State the claim of computable authority precisely.
• 02Identify what the discipline deliberately leaves to human judgement.
• 03Position machine-readable policy as one domain among future others.

What computability does not claim

Does computable authority argue that machines should decide?

No. It argues that when a decision is made under institutional authority — by a person or a machine — the authority applied should be identifiable, the reasoning reproducible, and the outcome verifiable. Judgement remains where the institution places it. What changes is that the placement is now explicit rather than discovered after the fact.

• Which decisions should never be delegated to an artifact?
• Does explicitness reduce or relocate discretion?
• What legitimacy risks does computability introduce?

Write the claim in your own words.

1. 01State what computable authority asserts, in three sentences.
2. 02State three things it does not assert.
3. 03Test both against a decision in your organisation.
4. 04Note where you disagree with the framing.

• Philosophy of authority and legitimacy.
• Legal formalism and its critiques.
• Automation and discretion in administrative practice.