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[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 8 months ago

By that definition, the purpose of a computer is to get hot. It of course does get hot, but a purpose is more than simply a side-effect.

Purpose, according to Cambridge Dictionary, is "why you do something or why something exist". A side-effect wouldn't pose any cause, therefore it's NOT its purpose.

[-] Hex@hexbear.net 22 points 8 months ago

I've put dough on top of my computer to rise while playing games before because of the extra warmth, purpose of a system is what is does

[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 8 months ago

I burnt a toast in the toaster. But ruining my bread is not the purpose of the toaster.

Similarly, if a fire alarm goes off on a false positive, that doesn't mean the purpose of the fire alarm was to waste the firefighters time. Not every effect of a system is also its purpose.

[-] CascadeOfLight@hexbear.net 13 points 8 months ago

But if your toaster ALWAYS ruined your toast, and you kept putting bread in it for, say, seventy years, and every single time it made a burned mess you say "But the toaster is supposed to make toast, it was designed with the intention to make toast, this burned mess is just bad luck/an unintended side effect/the result of a few bad apples" - then your epistemological paradigm might be lacking.

[-] SmokinStalin@hexbear.net 3 points 8 months ago

Yeah just the effect that KEEPS HAPPENING over and over again. As another poster put it, if a toaster burns toast every single time, then yeah, that's a toaster for burning bread. That's all its useful for.

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this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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