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Purpose: what we actually do with meaning

Purpose is where the chain stops being theoretical. When meaning and value start to shape how a system actually behaves, we have purpose: tendencies and projects oriented toward what matters.

From recipe to cooking

A recipe has meaning when you can read it and imagine the dish. It has purpose when you tie on an apron and start chopping vegetables.

In the same way, an ontology that never shapes behaviour remains hypothetical. Purpose is where your understanding starts to change what you do, which experiments you run, which relationships you protect, which risks you avoid.

Purpose as feedback

In IO, purpose is not a one-way arrow from thought to action. Actions feed back:

• They generate new information.
• They confirm or disconfirm values (“this goal was worth it”, “this wasn't”).
• They reshape meaning (“so that's what this really implies”).

Purpose closes the loop: Δ → R → I → A → V → M → P → new Δ. What we do changes the differences that will exist next.

What to carry forward

The key idea from this step:

Purpose is meaning and value in motion: how a system's stories about what matters become patterns of action in the world.