I hope you were having a bit of filosofical fun because I usually understand most of what you write;-—))
The red pill & blue pill is from The Matrix. In this case its choosing reality verses "the pod life form of reality".
"Grand Mal" = seizures from coherent electrical brain synapse firing (lobes get into a synchronous pattern), thus spoofing good thought (right thinking) with the hubris thought (seizure). Normal electrical and coherent thought have a useful purpose if the brain & thought are choosing reality (right thinking).
A good humor point to poke fun at the philosophy of Scientism is that if you can't prove something, then it can't be said to exist. Take this further and then ask someone, in the truths of Scientism, "how can I prove you actually have a brain?", "I can't see it, I can't touch it", therefore I have to conclude that I don't know if you have a brain. Thus Scientism becomes so absolute, that people can get caught up in their own hubris and miss true reality (right thinking).
Thus, being caught up in these form of beliefs, there are engineers, in their hubris, that believe their equations, theories, and positions can end up like "living in the Matrix pods" - disconnected in an alternate reality. But, even in an alternate reality, some engineers (and scientists) seem to firmly believe that the power of nature must obey what they believe, after all, their equations, theories, and positions are based on Scientism.
In the end, the people down below are the ones that will endure the outcome - thus the sarcasm of "ignoring the wall of water coming down the valley".
Yes, there are good people in these organizations. :-)
This was a sarcasm piece.