Bob Monaghan wrote:

I am simply saying that faulting the rule of sunny-16 because it involves
a "guess" is not fair. There are lots of issues with properly using meters
that require us to interpret the scene or our meter reading, angles of
coverage, etc.

The difference still is that the rule makes you guess about how to apply the
results of a previous guess, while metering only makes you guess about how
to apply a metered result. Two guesses against one.
I'd say it's perfectly fair to fault the "rule" on that grounds. This "you
have to interpret the scene anyway" line really is something of a red
herring.