> While difference between 1.2.3 and 1.4.5 is instantly apparent to any human?
The author's point is that the difference between 1.2.3 and 1.4.5 can be anything from a bugfix to the software going from self-hosted photo software to now it's driving a car. The assumption that users have the same perception of a major and minor version as the developer responsible for the versioning, is assuming that all humans understand versioning 100% identically.
You're overthinking this. The only significant difference between the versions 1.2.3 and 1.4.5 is that 1.4.5 is instantly recognized as the newer version. Can you say the same about two arbitrary commit hashes?
The author's point is that the difference between 1.2.3 and 1.4.5 can be anything from a bugfix to the software going from self-hosted photo software to now it's driving a car. The assumption that users have the same perception of a major and minor version as the developer responsible for the versioning, is assuming that all humans understand versioning 100% identically.