Why Brown Meat?

In the past, browning meat was thought to create a kind of semi-hermetic seal on the surface, so that when the center of the meat got hot and the steam produced began to push outward, the brown crust would keep it sealed inside. Plus, that same pressure was thought to cause the meat fibers to loosen and separate. Unfortunately, this handy hypothesis doesn’t really apply. The seal is by no means hermetic, and when the meat is submerged in liquid, the crust becomes soft enough that steam and liquid alike easily pass through. So what is the point?