It's the story of a man who did a beautiful thing. It wasn't the _right_ thing, but it was still beautiful.
Also, it helps that the stakes are so low. Mel's optimized program cheats at Blackjack, and the protagonist is trying to make it cheat in a different way. We're not invested in his success, so we can enjoy his failure, and maybe even root for it. If the same story were set in the context of the Therac-25, it would be received very differently.
Also, it helps that the stakes are so low. Mel's optimized program cheats at Blackjack, and the protagonist is trying to make it cheat in a different way. We're not invested in his success, so we can enjoy his failure, and maybe even root for it. If the same story were set in the context of the Therac-25, it would be received very differently.