Bad framework: properly, literacy and cognitive proficiency are declining in the aggregate. The aggregate is not the custodian.
> The meaning doesn't change when there's a clear hypothetical clause
It changes subtly. "If water reaches 100°C under default conditions, it boils". "If animals were made of bare iron, they would rust". The indicative tense is for states of facts (it is a state of fact that it /is/ inherent to water to possibly reach that temperature).
Men do not lie. They refuse to lie, and abhor lies. So, they refuse to use the indicative tense in that class of hypotetical statements, because it would be abhorrent.
Bad framework: properly, literacy and cognitive proficiency are declining in the aggregate. The aggregate is not the custodian.
> The meaning doesn't change when there's a clear hypothetical clause
It changes subtly. "If water reaches 100°C under default conditions, it boils". "If animals were made of bare iron, they would rust". The indicative tense is for states of facts (it is a state of fact that it /is/ inherent to water to possibly reach that temperature).
Men do not lie. They refuse to lie, and abhor lies. So, they refuse to use the indicative tense in that class of hypotetical statements, because it would be abhorrent.
It is mental hygiene.