Originally Posted by
sleuth
If the MAX were “perfectly stable”, it would have been launched without a system that no other 737 variant has ever needed.
The system was there to save airlines money in pilot training costs by simulating the behavior of a different airframe. This was probably a bad idea, in retrospect, but it doesn't mean the system was necessary for the aircraft to fly - just that it was necessary to get a single type rating with the 737NG.