I reckon it is a **** system designed by engineers who think pilots cannot make up their own mind.
From what the whistle blowers are saying the engineering team were not in favour of MCAS. It was management that wanted to push it through, and not tell anybody because they were under a company design mandate of no extra pilot training.
Now whether this is just people trying to cover their butt, or this is what really happened is yet to be determined. Boeing are already throwing mud at the whistleblowers so who knows where the truth lies.