yes, more brittle aka temper is the word. i think what you just explained is why some of the smart people don't seem to care because they assume it will just go the way bitcoin chooses to go due to the game theory and that's where we will all end up anyway.

i also wonder if some of them are catalyzing this whole process to just get this discussion out of the way. some of the core team appear to be playing devil's advocate. either that or their arguments are just landing wrong.

and on the bright side this whole kerfuffle takes a chunk out of the technical debt as newbies like me get a kick in the rear to learn more