I see Dr. Manhattan’s problem as not being rationality, but A) seeing things at a subatomic level and having to expend effort to see them at a human level, B) seeing all parts of time, so that ‘to the left of something alive’ and ‘after being alive’ are basically the same idea, and C) being so struck by fatalism due to B that he’s basically given up.
Dr. Manhattan shows interest in scientific experiments, even though scientific experiments should be prone to all of those problems as well. You never see him say he doesn’t care about doing an experiment because the number of atoms before and after the experiment is the same.
Furthermore, Dr. Manhattan “changes his mind” when he sees how Laurie is worthy of respect despite her background, That’s not a very close fit to overcoming the problems you describe, but it is a close fit for overcoming the “problems” of stereotypical “rationality”.
I see Dr. Manhattan’s problem as not being rationality, but A) seeing things at a subatomic level and having to expend effort to see them at a human level, B) seeing all parts of time, so that ‘to the left of something alive’ and ‘after being alive’ are basically the same idea, and C) being so struck by fatalism due to B that he’s basically given up.
I think you’re steelmanning too much.
Dr. Manhattan shows interest in scientific experiments, even though scientific experiments should be prone to all of those problems as well. You never see him say he doesn’t care about doing an experiment because the number of atoms before and after the experiment is the same.
Furthermore, Dr. Manhattan “changes his mind” when he sees how Laurie is worthy of respect despite her background, That’s not a very close fit to overcoming the problems you describe, but it is a close fit for overcoming the “problems” of stereotypical “rationality”.
I think that fits as part of point C. He has become Jacques the Fatalist minus the sense of humor.