The "Intelligent Design" Theory Of Wikipedia, Er, Maybe We Should Call That "Intentional Design" Options Rating

[Jon Awbrey]

There's a theme, so far ex tempore, that persists in tugging at my little gray cells in divers and sundry e-vironments. I will begin by replicating and mutating an unnatural selection of these sporting thoughts here.

Jon

[Jon Awbrey]

When we speak of a system being "dysfunctional" we need to remember that functionality is relative to a purpose. A system that is functional toward one objective may be dysfunctional toward another objective, and will be so if those two objectives are incompatible in their own rights.

The systems-analytic task known as System Identification (SI) includes the task of identifying system objectives, or specifying system purposes. These are judgment calls. So our judgment that a system is dysfunctional may devolve from the fact the we have failed to detect, identify, or specify its intended objective, or the purpose that the system actually has.

Jon

This post has been edited by Jon Awbrey: Thu 24th April 2008, 3:34pm

[Jon Awbrey]

When we speak of a system being "dysfunctional" we need to remember that functionality is relative to a purpose. A system that is functional toward one objective may be dysfunctional toward another objective, and will be so if those two objectives are incompatible in their own rights.

The systems-analytic task known as System Identification (SI) includes the task of identifying system objectives, or specifying system purposes. These are judgment calls. So our judgment that a system is dysfunctional may devolve from the fact the we have failed to detect, identify, or specify its intended objective, or the purpose that the system actually has.

Jon