Or is there some number of people that need to die first?

Probably yes. Safety regulations are written in blood.

For a human example, five year olds or people with severe mental disabilities unable to read are not actually employable in the modern economy.

Mild nitpick: there are a few five year olds that are employed as models, child actors, or similar activities for which "look like a five-year-old" is a job requirement, but those are rare exceptions that would remain rare even in the absence of child labor laws.

This is an old post, but I can't resist answering the question...

IF/IE (Yandere/Tsundere): Alice (the Yandere) pretends to like Bob but in fact is trying to manipulate him into doing what she wants, while Bob (the Tsundere) pretends to hate Alice but in fact is totally on-board with her agenda. This description is a bit of a joke - I can't even imagine what this mode would look like, let alone think of any real-world examples. This is the place where the model diverges most from reality and common sense. If we still want to salvage the model, my working theory is that the Yandere/Tsundere discourse is "unstable" in the sense that if a conversation enters this mode, even if the participants don't realize it, the conversation will become so incoherent that they'll either stop talking, or shift into a different mode.

This mode of interaction is called "playing hard to get": Alice is trying to manipulate Bob into something Alice wants. Bob is willing to accept being "manipulated" into an outcome he wanted all along, but Bob is going to make Alice work for it first.

The song "Baby It's Cold Outside" is probably the classic example of the dynamic. The "Wolf" is insincerely expressing concern for the "Mouse" when what he really wants is to sleep with her, and the "Mouse" is insincerely refusing because she doesn't want to get a reputation for being the kind of person who accepts such proposals even though she wants the same thing as the "Wolf".

Well, I guess we're different. I always want to pet all the dogs and all the cats too.

I take it you think nuclear winter is unlikely?

Also, how are you going to get the phosphate fertilizer to grow crops after a nuclear war?

Possibly stupid question: what do you think would happen if you tried to connect with and talk to literal children?

How do you feel about cats?

Is it okay to hang out at a bar if you don't drink?

So, are you turning into Linus Van Pelt, who said that he loved humanity - it was people he couldn't stand?

I think most people have trouble finding people at conventions they can click with, at least for longer than a few minutes, simply because of how hectic and overwhelming things can get...