I've concluded that I can't just use these example problems to explain things to non-programmers without thinking about them and deciding whether they are targe

I've concluded that I can't just use these example problems to explain things to non-programmers without thinking about them and deciding whether they are targeted specifically at computer scientists or at the public. For instance: the Byzantine generals problem can be understood by the public as well as scientists: it doesn't seem all that contrived, just simplified. However, the dining philosophers problem doesn't usually go down very well: it seems contrived rather than simplified. The response I usually get is something like: give them more chopsticks, DONE. On that note, I really wish I had some lucid way of explaining that these model problems are whimsical ways of conveying the essence of a difficult abstract problem, rather than actually representing an actual concrete problem.