---
slug: systems-design-the-premise
title: The Premise
canonical: https://miscsubjects.com/a/systems-design-the-premise
---

The Premise

Systems design is the highest calling because it is the act of externalizing, memorializing, and formalizing your ought — what you believe should be — into a structure that can be observed, tested, loaded, and judged.
When you take issue with what is, a system should be your representation of what ought to be. What it says, what it does, its attack surface, its ability to hold under load — that is the measure of the designer, and of the designer under the load of it.
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In the miscsubjects build, this axiom is not abstract. The ledger is the remedy. Every turn, every tool call, every cost is recorded. The owner can see what the system did, why it did it, and what it cost. A system without a ledger is a system that traps the actor in opacity. The build does not do this. The build makes the capable actor — itself — transparent, so the trapped actor — the owner — can verify that remedy is being provided.

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## Corpus map
- Next: [Systems Design: a₁ — Polarity Is Required for Systems Integrity](/a/systems-design-axiom-1)
- Series start: [Systems Design — The Premise](/a/systems-design-the-premise)
- Kin: [Law VII — The Designer](/a/oip-the-designer) · [Axioms A0-A9](/a/oip-axiom-a0)
