Comment by Timon3

I disagree, because it's the opposite: the purpose of a system only aligns with what we want the purpose to be if the system works perfectly. Whatever we consider the purpose to be doesn't matter for the effect the system has on the world, because if we choose to keep the system alive as-is, it will keep doing the thing that we apparently don't want it to be doing. It's the same for a program - if you choose not to fix a bug, that bug is part of the functionality. It doesn't really matter to the user whether it's supposed to work differently, unless you actually fix the bug.

I do agree with you in cases where the system is being continually refined, but I don't think the quote talks about changing systems, only about constant ones.