I don't know - two people getting interrupted frequently seem to be multiplying by zero to me.

Sometimes complex problems just require focused thought. Distractions detract focused thought. It's still possible to work through most problems when heavily distracted, but why the argument here? Legitimately, it baffles me. I do think devs over hype the importance of software development (generally speaking), but if an individual needs focus to solve a problem, be it math, software, economics, whatever - why would we argue that they don't actually need to be that focused?