Not a pilot, but an engineer here.
That the MCAS system was relying solely on one sensor and not cascade to backup sensors or other checkpoint data, too.... well, it almost sounds to me that Boeing went rouge from their philosophy and instead errantly took a page from Airbus' philosophy, trying to fully automate the plane, and half-assed the entire logic and failed miserably. Otherwise, this MCAS system seems criminally designed, not to mention the lack of instruction in their Flight Manual.