Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" (KJV; also "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God" (NRSV) and variants) is the fourth of God's Ten Commandments to man. It is a prohibition of blasphemy, specifically, the misuse or "taking in vain" of the name of the God of Israel, or using His name to commit evil. Exodus 20:7 reads: Based on this commandment, Second Temple Judaism by the Hellenistic period developed a taboo of
The purpose of a system is what it does The purpose of a system is what it does The purpose of a system is what it does (POSIWID) is a systems thinking heuristic coined by Stafford Beer. Stafford Beer coined the term POSIWID and used it many times in public addresses. In his address to the University of Valladolid, Spain, in October 2001, he said "According to the cybernetician, the purpose of a system is what it does. This is a basic dictum. It stands for bald fact, which makes a better starting point in seeking understanding than the familiar attributions of good intention, prejudices about expectations, moral judgment,