Nothing you said is factually wrong but you're being obnoxiously pedantic and rude. OP was merely commenting on the similarities between his and John Carmack's

Nothing you said is factually wrong but you're being obnoxiously pedantic and rude. OP was merely commenting on the similarities between his and John Carmack's approach to solving the problem and is in no way deluding himself by comparing the two in terms of complexity. It's absolutely possible to write a naive solution to a small problem and still take a similar approach to a more complex one