+1 for outside-the-box
we want the assertion macro to be able to dissolve in a released version
we do not want to force the package user to start with --check-bounds=no
reversing the sense of your macro forces bounds checking off when assertions are active, and that is imperfect for development
fwiw years ago I found a way that worked – would be worth more with sourcetext, and maybe it worked by using aspects of very early Julia that no longer hold.