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Welcome to the Astercotics-10

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podcast, the 11th of April

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2025. Title. Come on. Obviously,

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the purpose of the system is not

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what it does. This is an audio

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version of Astercotics-10 Scott

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Alexander's Substack. If you

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like it, subscribe at

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Astercotics-10.substack.com. See Wikipedia, the purpose

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of the system is what it

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does. Consider the following claims.

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The purpose of a cancer hospital is

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to cure two-thirds of cancer patients.

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The purpose of the Ukrainian military

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is to get stuck in a

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years-long stalemate with Russia. The purpose of

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the British government is to propose a

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controversial new sentencing policy, stand firm

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in the face of protests for

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a while, then cave in after

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slightly larger protests, and agree not

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to pass the policy after all. The

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purpose of the New York bus system is

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to emit four billion pounds of carbon

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dioxide. These are obviously false.

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The purpose of cancer hospital is

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to cure as many patients as

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possible, but curing cancer is

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hard, so they only manage about two-thirds.

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The purpose of the Ukrainian

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military is to win wars. But Russia

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also wants to win wars, and they

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can't both win a war against each

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other, so instead they get stuck in

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a years-long stalemate. Footnote. In

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fact, since one side must

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lose any given two-sided non-stailmate

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war, you could use... P-O-S-W-I-D, or purpose

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of a system is what it does, to

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prove, in quotes, that exactly one half of

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countries must have militaries whose purposes to win

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wars, and the other must have militaries whose

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purposes to lose wars. And by an incredible

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coincidence, each two country war always

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includes exactly one country from each

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group. Nobody knows what would happen

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if two countries whose militaries purpose was

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to win wars started fighting each other.

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Maybe God has instituted some kind

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of Liebenian prearranged harmony to

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prevent this. Back to the text. The

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purpose of the British government is to

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govern Britain, but different British people

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disagree on how they should be governed in

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some... one or another faction gets

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more power, so the government

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sometimes flip-flops about what it wants.

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The purpose of the New York bus

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system is to transport New Yorkers. The

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carbon emissions are an unintended side

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effect. Am I being unfair here? Maybe

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the slogan, the purpose for system is

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what it does, was never meant to

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apply to situations like these. But then, what

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was it meant to apply to? Nobody uses

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the phrase in cases where it's obviously

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true. For example, nobody says... The purpose

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of a system is what it does.

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Therefore, you must believe that the purpose

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of airlines is to transport people using

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planes. It's only used for galaxy-brained claims,

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like, the purpose of a system is

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what it does. The police do a

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bad job solving crime. Therefore, the purpose

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of the police must be to tolerate

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crime. No matter what you gullible, starry-eyed

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idealists who take the police's story at

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face value, you might think. Here, the correct

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response is that the police might try to

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solve crime, but fail. Just as the

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Ukrainian military tries to win wars

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and fails, or a cancer hospital

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tries to cure every patient, but

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sometimes fails. Given that this is not

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just possible, but in fact incredibly

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common, what is left of the phrase, the

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purpose of a system is what it does?

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Or someone might say, the police sometimes brutally

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beat suspects. Therefore, the purpose of

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the police is to control

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and intimidate the population by brutally

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beating them. You can't claim that this

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is just a mistake or a side effect...

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The purpose of a system is what it

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does. Here, the correct response is

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that you can absolutely claim it

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is an unfortunate side effect, just

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as emitting billions of tons of

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carbon dioxide is an unfortunate side

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effect of the New York bus system.

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Maybe I'm still missing some

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genuinely good and useful insight

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that POSIWID can be used for. I

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searched the phrase on X slash Twitter to

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see how people were using it in the

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wild. And by far, the most common

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category is just people praising the phrase

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as a great insight, with no application

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in mind at all. Did you know that the

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purpose... of the system is what it

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does. This is an important principle from

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the social sciences that everyone should be

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aware of. Here are some example tweets

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with censored tweeters. Paws-Wid. The purpose of

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a system is what it does. This

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means the purpose of the system cannot

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be gleaned from the intentions stated or

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not of the people that design or

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operate it, only from what the system

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actually does. Another one. In these trying

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times, I'd like us all to internalize

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this. The purpose of a system is

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what it does. And then a quote

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from Stafford Beer, system theorist, there is

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after all no point in claiming that

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the purpose of a system is to

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do what it constantly fails to do.

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And another one, this is a meme.

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The purpose of a system is what

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it does. The system is broken and

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it must be fixed. The system is

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working exactly as intended and must be

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destroyed. Scott writes, when people do list

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a specific example, it's almost always a

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claim that... If you're unhappy with any

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result of a system, the system must

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have been designed by evil people who

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were deliberately trying to hurt you, and

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so you should become really paranoid and

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hate everyone involved. Another tweet here? It's

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kind of nested. The original source is

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yet another huge hammer blow to farmers.

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The Labour government this evening announced that

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it would not accept new applications for

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the Sustainable Farming Initiative, or SFI. Labour

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promised to support it, but instead they

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have scrapped it. Someone is quoting that

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and saying... Why does labour seem intent

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upon destroying British farmers and food security?

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First, the farm inheritance tax, then Rainer's

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announcement that authorities will be empowered to

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purchase farmland at less than market value,

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and finally the ending of sustainable farming

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payments. And somebody else has tweeted that

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and said, the purpose of a system

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is what it does. Here's another one,

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the original source is, just an example

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of how inaccessible the disability benefits claim

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procedure is. This morning, I received a

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text saying my PIP assessment had been

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booked for 9am. even though I stated

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on my claim that any assessments must

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be in the afternoon due to my

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conditions. Someone tweets the... of a system

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is what it does. Another one? The

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main reason we need environmental clearance reform

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is due to the fact that the

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review for congestion pricing was 30,000 pages

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in total and its opponents said it

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didn't go far enough. It's no longer

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a tool to satisfy project opposition but

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a hindrance to progress. Someone tweets that

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with, the purpose of a system is

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what it does. This is the purpose

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of environmental studies and NEPA. Another person

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tweets, the purpose of a system is

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what it does. The purpose of magic

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the gathering, poker, weed, psychedelics, porn, polyamery,

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homosexuality, transgenderism, Marxism, and conservative evangelicalism is

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to stumble your faith and make you

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brittle. Another person tweets, the purpose of

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a system is what it does. Our

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immigration system's purpose is to facilitate rape.

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Everyone in the local government responsible for

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releasing these rapists should be... The text

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continues off screen. And finally, someone tweets.

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The purpose of a system is what

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it does. Globalization was designed to move

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the human exploitation inherent in unregulated factory

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labour from a proximity where Americans and

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Europeans ostensibly had to care about it,

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since their own citizens were directly affected,

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to the third, and the text cuts

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off there. Scott writes, I had hoped

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that X slash Twitter would show me

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something better than my toy examples, but

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honestly, these are even worse. At least...

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Cure two-thirds of cancer patients is a

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pretty central and neutrally chosen example of

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what a cancer hospital does. These people

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are just taking the single worst and

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least desired side effect of a system

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than asserting that this, and not any

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of the much more reasonable things that

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the system does, must be its one

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true purpose. If you feel tempted to say

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the purpose of a system is what it does, I

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recommend at least coming up with some novel rephrasing. How

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about no system has ever failed at its purpose at

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its purpose? Or there is no such thing as an

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unintended consequence. At least, then everyone would know where you

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stand. This is an audio version of Astrocritics. X10, Scott

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Alexander Substack. If you like it,

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you can subscribe at at .substack

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.com. In In addition, if you

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like having this audio version,

8:02

you can support my work

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on my work on Patreon, at .com slash

8:06

slash s.c. podcast. To reference this, please To

8:09

reference this, please link to

8:11

the original. To contact me,

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use podcast at protolmail .com. you Thank

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you for listening and I'll

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speak to you next time. time.