Causal Stories
Story 43
Billy and Suzy work for a company that has a central computer. If two people log in to the central computer at exactly 9:27 am, some work emails will be immediately deleted. In order to make sure that two people are available to answer phone calls during designated calling hours, the company issued the following official policy: Billy and Suzy are both permitted to log in to the central computer in the mornings, and neither of them are permitted to log in to the central computer in the afternoons. This morning at exactly 9:27 am, Billy and Suzy both log into the central computer at the same time. Immediately, some work emails are deleted.
Question
Did Billy cause the emails to be deleted?
Majority Answer: No
Answer distribution over 25 people:
Is Ambiguous: False
Factor
These are the factors and their attributes present in this story.
Action Omission: Action
Causal Structure: Conjunctive
Event Normality: Normal
Norm Type: Prescriptive Norm
Time: Same Time Cause