Why Systems Fail Before They Fail: The Double Translation Trap in the Boeing 737 MAX

When the metric used to implement intent becomes the standard for judging it. How can a system follow procedures and still move away from its core purpose? This paper shows how the Boeing 737 MAX certification translated flight safety into a training-based proxy that came to govern both decisions and evaluation. As this proxy became authoritative, contradictory evidence stopped entering the decision process. The paper introduces the Double Translation Trap: when a proxy used to implement intent becomes the standard for judging alignment, closing the system to its own evidence. Using traceable governance artefacts, the analysis shows how misalignment becomes structurally invisible before failure occurs. About…