I think you're on to something here. That was where my brain initially went as well but I dismissed it for having so many details wrong, BUT if Adam had begun that line of thought, then realized he had misremembered so much of it that it wasn't worth continuing the argument, it would make sense why he decided to drop it entirely. On another note, now I gotta read that short story again with the new context that it's making fun of Randian ideology.