A rather weak argument when you consider what kind of mechanisms (like a digital clock with working seven-segment display) people have been programming / put to

A rather weak argument when you consider what kind of mechanisms (like a digital clock with working seven-segment display) people have been programming / put together in Conway's Game of Life; to me this does not suggest in any way or manner that GoL could ever be my favored platform to simulate a digital clock (or anything more complex than a glider for that matter). Likewise vacuum cleaners and toothbrushes have likely been made hosts for playing doom, and people accomplish all kinds of stuff like quines and working software in brainf*ck. None of these feats are indicative of the respective platform being suitable or the right tool for a sizable number of programmers.