In 1980, British scholar David Collingridge introduced the “Collingridge Dilemma,” a core challenge in tech governance. It highlights the tension between early regulation (when intervention is easier but impacts are uncertain) and late intervention (when technologies are entrenched and harder to change).
This dilemma remains central to discussions on AI ethics, policy and regulation, often alongside the “Precautionary Principle” (which advocates setting early safeguards despite uncertainty), and the “Pacing Problem” (where tech evolves faster than legal frameworks).
At TechLaw.Fest 2025, Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon addressed this challenge in his keynote, “Reimagining Law & Technology”. He emphasized the need for balanced, adaptive regulation. “We must remember that we are aiming at a moving target,” he said. “We should be prepared for our projections of technological change to be wrong in their direction or degree.”
What’s the solution? “The goal, then, must be to keep pace with technological developments, and to avoid either outrunning them or falling behind them. We can achieve this through various techniques, such as relying on the incremental development of the common law, or designing “adaptive legislation” that combines general standards, periodic reviews and carve-outs such as safe harbours.”
How does Singpaore enable that? By embracing continuous learning. “We have invested significantly in developing our judges as ‘learning judges’, with a mindset of lifelong and self-directed learning, including in adjacent fields such as technology, statistics and forensic sciences,” Mr Menon said.
And by adopting a transnational outlook. “Issues and opportunities that appear novel to us will often have received consideration elsewhere, and we would do well to draw upon the combined wealth of experience and learning that can be derived from a comparative approach,” he added. “The significance of a transnational focus is sharpened by the reality that we very rarely operate in legal or geographical silos, and that coherence across legal regimes is instrumental to supporting transnational commercial activity.”
LinkedIn Post: http://bit.ly/47zSS73
Chief Justice’s Speech: http://bit.ly/3IhXlRp
TechLaw.Fest 2025: http://bit.ly/3Ic6Y4a