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sockpuppet2  11d ago (astralcodexten.com)   2560 thread views

Scott: Come On, Obviously The Purpose Of A System Is Not What It Does

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This made me reflect that I hadn't actually thought critically about the phrase (at least, commensurate to how often it's used). For fun, if you think the purpose of a system is what it does, write what you think that means, before reading Scott's critique, then write if you've updated your opinion. For example: I think it's a useful way of re-framing obviously dysfunctional systems, so as to analyze their dysfunction, but Scott is persuasive that it's not a good means of understanding systems, in general, so people should be more cautious about adopting this framing and using the phrase, rhetorically.

(Spoilers go between two sets of "||")

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Cheeky mf:

Thanks to everyone who chimed in with criticism of my recent POSIWID post. If I understand you all correctly, you think that Stafford Beer had good intentions when he invented the phrase, and that's more important than how it gets misused in real life. Enlightening!

Scott: "The phrase 'the purpose of a system is what it does' is dumb, you can't just judge the purpose of a system based on one or more of its outputs."

Everyone: "Obviously people are misusing this phrase, you have to look at the original context of what the person who coined it meant."

Scott: ahem

We did it Reddit!

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