Or, this is part of the Bare Mettle philosophy! The world of Exanima has evolved over many years and has been inhabited by many different kind of people. Maybe the levers are just broken! As Madoc once said: "This game is not spoon-feeding you.".
I actually love the idea that some things are broken and so their meaning can be lost to us. It doesn't make sense that the entire world is just designed for the player and no one else. Let the player just explore the world in its current state! (of course, you need to have at least some interesting things..)
Maybe it's just a bug, maybe it's unfinished content; but if this is intended, then I absolutely love what they are doing.