Francis Salmon: I thought the times of the Inquisition were over

[Norm Wattenberger]

Which is an example of the danger of comparing two of anything when there exist so many variables.

But it is funny

[Francis Salmon]

I must say, it's a pleasure discussing with you. Unlike others you stick precisely to the point.
Of course, I cannot deny that estimation errors will sometimes lead to wrong decisions but if you bring in error considerations then you have to consider also the cases where the I18 would actually indicate the right play, but the deliberate TC-underestimation by the user brings in an error .Not all the I18 are off the mark as we can see from Don's post below. But if I understand the philosophy correctly, Norm tells the students to tune TCs down in order to adapt to the floored indices.
Let's suppose we have RC+5 with 1.25 decks remaining.A clear case for insurance.Rounding to full decks,the I18-user has to consider this as 2 decks remaining and will get a TC of +2. Not to insure here is quite costly.
I have to go on a trip now, so I won't be able to continue the discussion.All the best to you!

Francis Salmon