My headmates and I are currently in the middle of watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and we got to the season 2 episode: Invasive Procedures.

For those who are unaware one of the main characters is Jadzia Dax. She's joined with a symbiont worm creature which is surgically implanted into her body. The symbiont is incredibly long lived and has been joined with 8 other people in the past. The joining is described more like a fusion of symbiont and host but we couldn't help feeling a connection between the joining and systemhood. It's a being that while separate in way, lives symbiotically within Jadzia.

The episode revolves around the symbiont being forcibly removed and it made several of us cry. We may butt heads occasionally but we're friends. We're mostly happy with our existence and couldn't imagine being separated. And that's kind of what happens. Jadzia says that she feels empty and alone after the symbiont is removed and damn if that didn't hit hard.

I don't know if the episode (Or Jadzia) was written with systems in mind but it sure feels like there's a parallel there.