Systems

I thought we were getting a new front door, but we are actually getting an "entry system". That's how the label on what appeared to my untrained eye to be a mere door read. It also doubles as an exit system. Later last evening while I was watching the idiot box, I noticed that what appeared to me to be a mattress was advertised as a "sleep system". Can anything be described as a "system"? Maybe I don't just wear shoes; rather, I utilize a foot enclosure and protection system. I don't have a simple coffee maker; rather, I have a coffee brewing system. When I open a beer bottle, I use a bottle access system instead of a church key. When I remove staples, I deploy a metal fastener extrusion system.

The concept of system appears to have been stripped of all useful meaning. It has long been abused in the social sciences where scholars tend to speak of just about every social arrangement as a system even when it is not particularly systematic. I reckon a system needs at least two interacting elements to qualify. My entry system has a door, a frame, and a locking mechanism. Add one of us with a key, and voila! It might really be a system. The sleep system is harder to justify since all the elements (mattress, box spring, frame, linens) are more or less static and don't really interact. If you count the sleeper, you might stretch the definition and call the sleeper/bed complex a sleep system.

What's the difference between a door and an entry system? A couple hundred bucks.