Whether or not you were able to suspend disbelief seems irrelevant, as the purpose of the post is not to tell a plausible story. It’s to illustrate certain concepts. In fact, if you had been able to suspend your disbelief entirely then the post would have failed, as your attention would have been on the story, rather than the underlying points being made.
Criticising a parable such as this for its implausibility is rather like doing the same for the trolley problem, or the utility monster. I think it misses the point.
Sure, that explains why the story was written with this flaw, but it doesn’t remove the flaw. But I don’t have a better suggestion.
It does remove the flaw, because it’s a thought experiment. It doesn’t have to be plausible. It merely tests our evaluative judgements and intuitions.
It’s a fact that it messed with my suspension of disbelief for a bit. It would be better if it hadn’t. I still like the story; it’s just a minor flaw.
Whether or not you were able to suspend disbelief seems irrelevant, as the purpose of the post is not to tell a plausible story. It’s to illustrate certain concepts. In fact, if you had been able to suspend your disbelief entirely then the post would have failed, as your attention would have been on the story, rather than the underlying points being made.
Criticising a parable such as this for its implausibility is rather like doing the same for the trolley problem, or the utility monster. I think it misses the point.