[hannasanarion]

Most fly-by-wire systems implement the pilot's stated intention directly, though, is that not correct?

This layer inbetween where the computer goes "actually what I think you REALLY meant to do is..." is novel in the 737 Max.

[cmurf]

No. The intended behavior is a nose down nudge every 10s only when a) exceeding a certain angle of attack b) above a certain altitude and c) when flaps are retracted. It's second guessing only at a particular edge of the normal flight envelope to prevent it from departing that envelope.

And all the various layers of protections in fly by wire airplanes do that - they second guess certain inputs to prevent edge cases. But in any case the input is going through software abstraction. Any apparent directness is part of that software behavior.

I'll be interested what the software update due at the end of April entails exactly. I think every airplane should get the angle of attack sensors disagree indication, standard.