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The Purpose Of A System Is What It Does
Understanding systems thinking.
“The purpose of a system is what it does” is a phrase used to emphasize that the true purpose of any system is understood by observing its outcomes, not its stated intentions. This phrase cuts through the lies used to hide outcomes. If the purpose of a system is harmful, public understanding of this purpose would lead to opposition to the system. Intended or stated purpose acts as a mass psychological defense against seeing harmful outcomes as the true purpose of systems.
As an example, the stated intention of a company might be to produce food products, but if the system is designed to maximize profit and reduce costs more than health, the real purpose of the system might be to poison consumers with chemical additives. If we were to say “The purpose of the food industry is to poison consumers,” executives in those companies would object that they don’t intend to poison anyone, despite their actions regularly producing this outcome.
Outcomes can be produced whether or not anyone in the system consciously intends them. When those in a system say that they don’t intend to produce an outcome, they are being honest. However, their intention is irrelevant. When we describe the purpose of a system, we are not describing the intentions of anyone in that system, but the outcomes that system produces. An evil villain trying to poison America’s food supply would be less effective at harming the health of consumers than a harmful system in which no one has bad intentions, but in which everyone participates.
A system might have multiple outcomes. The stated purpose of schools is to teach students, yet compulsory schooling produces many other outcomes. It uses force to coerce students. It segregates them from society. It ensures children have somewhere to go so parents can earn capital during the day. Children are regularly abused physically, emotionally, and sexually in the school system. All of these coul…