[ngneer]

Very interesting. Thank you for making the distinction explicit and for helping me to understand the other mindset. You are totally right, in that my mindset is closer to a forensics mindset in such instances, trying to get as close as possible to the "truth", so as to avoid future similar defects and improve system reliability. I do agree that some people prefer to manufacture truth. Any advice on how to get along with these?

[Dalewyn]

Much like how you can't convince a businessman to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it, it's next to impossible to "find out" a mystery if the powers-that-be do not want that and/or want a more desirable-for-them conclusion.

[ngneer]

I was afraid you were going to say that ;). Thanks for the sage advice. I think that "safety inspector" would not be a good career choice for people like myself, then. Methinks Boeing and OceanGate had been in the news recently with similar safety attitudes. Oh, well. Live and learn.

[lazide]

Notably, the type of people who do B are extremely dangerous around anything involving engineering, science, etc - anything where reality actually matters.

Because type A people are what are required to actually fix problems, or learn more things.

Type B people exist when those are ‘not desirable’. Which should indeed scare you, if you care about actual reality (or actual reality matters) in that domain.

[Moru]

Especially when type A people are working in an environment where the leadership with the guns is type B people. Then type A will proactively switch to type B reasoning to stay alive.