I opened the comments half expecting comments more inscrutable than the discussion itself. Didn't expect the extant sentiment.
So, maybe, this question isn't so stupid:
...what's the point of this type of discussion? What real-world, non-theoretically-based situations, would I use this type of understanding in?
I've tried to figure it out and I'm not coming up with anything relevant. I know there is relevancy to be had here, I can see that, I'm just not figuring it out myself.
But you can also sort of repeat your question with regard to those areas of computer science, because they don't appear to relate to computing devices that we could physically build, even though they might clarify things like how different groups of unsolvable problems relate to one another.
These kinds of exercises are useful in the practice of learning how to think.
A commenter on the "Ask HN" question about good resources to learn about systems thinking mentioned the need to have a good understanding of stateful systems. Hilbert's Hotel is about state transition, it seems to me.
More prosaically, I thought of using Thompson's Lamp as an example to train some colleagues on how to use Matt Wynne's Example Mapping. The puzzles it presents might distract from the main point of the exercise though!
So, maybe, this question isn't so stupid:
...what's the point of this type of discussion? What real-world, non-theoretically-based situations, would I use this type of understanding in?
I've tried to figure it out and I'm not coming up with anything relevant. I know there is relevancy to be had here, I can see that, I'm just not figuring it out myself.