> Purposes are deduced from behavior, not from rhetoric or stated goals.
> Purposes are deduced from behavior, not from rhetoric or stated goals. A light rewrite of the slogan "the purpose of a system is what it does". I hate that slogan. It's supposed to be profound, but it's actually really, really dumb. The whole point of the word purpose - its purpose if you will - is to be able to talk about the difference between what a system does and what it ought to do. To say the purpose of a thing is what it does, is to render the word completely redundant. If the stated goals of a system don't match what it does, then either you have a dysfunctional system that needs to be fixed, or those stated goals are lies . In these days of AI, it's all the more important to think clearly about purpose. Just because a system does a thing, there's not necessarily anyone who wants that thing. And there's definitively not any "spirit of the corporation" or "spirit of the nation" or "spirit of the language model" which wants it. Only persons want things.
Posted by vintermann on Sep 30, 2026, 8:48 AM
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Raise real-world problems, find people facing the same issue, and discuss solutions.2,000 issues0 comments
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I wish there was something that could be done beyond feeling powerless.
NewI don’t hate taxes per se but I hate that the government will take tax dollars earmarked for one purpose, which is how they got the tax a...
NewI've never thought SF Symbols were beautiful.
New> conservatives don't like being told that their ideas, while legally allowed, are not welcome in polite company As long as there are a ...
NewYeah but this AI music is worse than any AI produced code.
I wish there was a way I could get educational-only youtube as an adult.
people say taste is the differentiator but I hate that because taste is personal, whereas culture is communal taste without curation for...
I've always enjoyed hacking on random projects and AI does that really well.
> Purposes are deduced from behavior, not from rhetoric or stated goals.
> Purposes are deduced from behavior, not from rhetoric or stated goals. A light rewrite of the slogan "the purpose of a system is what it does". I hate that slogan. It's supposed to be profound, but it's actually really, really dumb. The whole point of the word purpose - its purpose if you will - is to be able to talk about the difference between what a system does and what it ought to do. To say the purpose of a thing is what it does, is to render the word completely redundant. If the stated goals of a system don't match what it does, then either you have a dysfunctional system that needs to be fixed, or those stated goals are lies . In these days of AI, it's all the more important to think clearly about purpose. Just because a system does a thing, there's not necessarily anyone who wants that thing. And there's definitively not any "spirit of the corporation" or "spirit of the nation" or "spirit of the language model" which wants it. Only persons want things.
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