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"systems can become corrupted (or simply fail) and no longer work towards their original purpose"

Er, that's exactly what "the purpose of a system is what it does" means.



No, “the purpose of a system is what it does” implies that the original intent of the creators of a system was for it to become corrupted.


That's one way to read the literal meaning of the words, but it's not what the phrase means as originally intended.


Right, but then we apply the phrase to itself and this is what we get!




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