Saying that someone should’ve acted differently than they actually did is a bug report. If a calculator already answered “10” to the question of “7+4=?”, it should’ve given a different answer. This formulates a task of figuring out what has gone wrong, what should be fixed. It’s useful even if the calculator is never posed that exact question again, any error in reasoning has many effects.
Another point is that decisions make use of prediction of hypothetical consequences. If blame or vengeance are predicted consequences of some course of action, that already acts as deterrence, even if the hypothetical future blame hadn’t been meted out and never will precisely because it was effective.
Saying that someone should’ve acted differently than they actually did is a bug report. If a calculator already answered “10” to the question of “7+4=?”, it should’ve given a different answer. This formulates a task of figuring out what has gone wrong, what should be fixed. It’s useful even if the calculator is never posed that exact question again, any error in reasoning has many effects.
Another point is that decisions make use of prediction of hypothetical consequences. If blame or vengeance are predicted consequences of some course of action, that already acts as deterrence, even if the hypothetical future blame hadn’t been meted out and never will precisely because it was effective.