All this to say that in the case of this tale, and of Eliezer’s lament, what might be at work is the fallacy of sunk costs (if we have another name for it, and maybe a post to link to, please let me know!).
See the links on http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sunk_cost_fallacy
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See the links on http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sunk_cost_fallacy