On this page I ake a start in describing the vision I see for a form of living document that combines both "code" (computer languages) and "text" in a manor that I anticipate becoming increasingly common in the coming years.
I have been working on this idea to the best of my ability and resources since I started to work on Liquid Law, my hope is that those earlier ideas can be envigorated or more fully realised through the integration of a number of technologies that are now readily available.
These technologies empower us to build systems that look able to realise earlier ideas that great minds failed to realise for the lack of the capabilites that modern technology has made ubiquitous in recent times. These historical practices that now look possible to bring into the mainstream include:
In the age of socialised agentic software development, the above expert domains (to which we can add those of key professions) become feasible in everyday conversation and deliberative practice.
I am personally able to combine these things in my daily communcication based on open source components I craft with highly limited resources. This expereince indicates to me that in the near future, small creative teams will be able to craft and support large scale pubkic deliberations of a type that was only previously dreamed of.
Of course such positive social possibilities may easily be overtaken by events and other forces, much will depend on the teamwork we are able to convene around the building of such systems.
# Getting Concrete
The test of the pudding is in the eating, and in this case whether it is, or is not possible to create an effective, popular new form of hypertext that acts as edge substrate for the Hitchhikers Project will be put to the test.
First we need to embody the practice by using document driven design to specify what we build, while working with a minimal software archtecture that we are able to sustainably iterate with, using the newer techniques that we hope can support this practice.