I'm not a fisherman, but I've seen horrendously expensive reels totally stalled while reeling in. 'Dropping' the rod instantly took the load off and allowed the reel to continue cranking. I don't think it's a too bad analogy.
The Pierson report. That's interesting. I spent my first working years fault-finding systems. What jumps out of the read above is the stability of such a fault. Assessing conductivity of a moving break at atomic level I think would take a lot of very creative imagination.
I have personally seen a mechanical system fail the same way - differential thermal expansion causing cumulative damage and a sliding window on the ability to function until it no longer could.
That sounds more like the real world, but then, I've been surprised before. Electronics started with the Cat's Whisker, and the currents involved possibly altered the junction after a period of time.
A partially conducting junction happening due to varied compression - more than a few times - makes the old credulity warning light come on.