I found the title of the thread quite unambiguous. it was really just questioning how the flying controls received their signals and was it relevant to the Hudson river incident.
Well, it was relevant in that the crew would have had the flying controls degraded two steps from Normal Law, through Alternate Law to Direct Law. This means that the controls move proportionally in realtion to the stick movement. Just like they would in a cable controlled aircraft such as an older Boeing design. The crew would have also lost a lot of the protections such as V alpha Max which would initiate an auto go around - if they still had engines!
So there is a difference, but it's no big deal and not of huge relevance. It just downgraded itself down to a 737!