But like the command test where you have to order a holodeck crewmember to their death, isn’t in the back of your mind that it isn’t real?
Not quite the same, but I once had a final exam in an RPG programming class. We had 90 minutes to write a fairly complex program. After 45 minutes someone handed in their results. I was amazed, as I thought I was quite good at RPG and I was nowhere near complete. Over the next 45 minutes students got up one by one and turned in their results. At the end I was the only one left and turned in a not quite complete program.
I was devastated. Not only did it shake my faith in my abilities, but passing the class was a requirement for a promotion.
The next week in class the reacher gave out the results. I had the only A. It turned out everyone else had given up. He said that he knew 90 minutes was not enough to complete the task and wanted to see how far we could get.
So what was the lesson to be learned there? It’s better to keep plugging away 'til the bitter end?
Is there something wrong with that lesson?
Teachers are assholes.
Perhaps the lesson is that you don’t know that there is no chance unless you take every chance there is. The person trying until the bitter end may find a solution, whereas someone who gives up certainly wont.
“It’s a feature, not a bug.”
That inspiring story brought a tear to my eye.