#+title: the purpose of a system is what it does
- tags :: [[file:20200708122521-cybernetics.org][cybernetics]]

"The purpose of a system is what it does", sometimes abbreviated "POSIWID", is a
phrase coined by [[file:20201028095350-stafford_beer.org][Stafford Beer]]. For Beer, there was no point in believing what a
system said it should do, since a system may say that it does one thing and not
live up to that. Therefore when analyzing a system, we can say that its purpose
is what it does.

This is an incredibly profound insight.