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sockpuppet2  6d ago (astralcodexten.com)   2409 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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Leonard Nimoy narrating the technological research in Civilization IV is etched into my brain.

The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.

Warn a brother before dropping a nostalgia bomb that big.

Wait, nostalgia? Is your inner monologue not composed of at least 20% Leonard Nimoy Civ IV quotes?

"I got pig iron, I got pig iron, I got ALL pig iron" pops up occasionally despite making no sense in almost any context.

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