Shrinking large moving mechanical devices down to something that isn't going to chop off / cause physical body harm certainly would be in the 'less dangerous' d

Shrinking large moving mechanical devices down to something that isn't going to chop off / cause physical body harm certainly would be in the 'less dangerous' department. (newer tech, high electrical voltages not withstanding) But not having to think about how something works / purpose can certainly lead to dangerous abuses as much as new/creative uses. IMHO, the pitfalls are in not understanding/being aware of the limitations/edge cases. aka Not unplugging 70's CRT TV meant TV still drew power vs. unplugging meant took longer for CRT to warm up before being able to display image. Note: For areas with frequent electical storms, power surge due to lighting strike could destroy plugged in 70's TV. Today's battery powered displays, dropping from height & destroying display more relevant risk than worrying about lighting strike causing power surge. Unlike most mechanical hardware where have to design upfront to minimize costs/ensure things fit/work together; with software one can very easily intentionally/unintentionally 'sweep things under the carpet" in quest to 'get it done'. see [1] vs. [3]; [2] vs. history of [4]; Quote by Arthur C. Clarke : "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."[5] mechanical digital camera[2]; 1800's Fax machine[4] niplo disk [1] vs. flexible dot-matrix display manufacture by offset lithography [3] Related "Ask HN: Is human technology advancing faster than human wisdom sustainable?"[6] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] niplo disk : https://web.archive.org/web/20091026194656/http://geocities.com/davidvwilliamson/nipkov.html https://web.archive.org/web/20091026194656/http://geocities.... ben heck's mechanical television (part 1) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI0TtyVEcs8 [2] mechanical digital camera : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCzMLl-cB94 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCzMLl-cB94 (vs. 1st digital image (1957) : https://www.nist.gov/mathematics-statistics/first-digital-image ) [3] : (behind paywall) flexible dot-matrix display manufacture by offset lithography : https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Flexible_dot-matrix_display_manufacture_by_offset_lithography/9350540 https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution... [4] : (electro-mechanical image) : The history of faxing: from revolutionary to digital evolution in 2024 : https://novatech.net/blog/the-history-of-faxing-from-revolutionary-to-digital-evolution-in-2024 https://novatech.net/blog/the-history-of-faxing-from-revolut... [5] Aurthur C. Clarke quote disucssion : https://lab.cccb.org/en/arthur-c-clarke-any-sufficiently-advanced-technology-is-indistinguishable-from-magic/ https://lab.cccb.org/en/arthur-c-clarke-any-sufficiently-adv... [6] Ask HN: Is human technology advancing faster than human wisdom sustainable? : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43357677 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43357677