Man, I have to push back a little on the maintenance thing. I have a few friends who went tiny and they say the setup takes way less time than keeping up a normal house, since there is just less to clean and fix. The museum feeling you got is real though, and honestly that has more to do with expo show homes than actual living in one.

The "highlight reel for people who hated reading" line got me, because I've been that guy defending a book I barely remembered. I'd say The Princess Bride movie beats the book for me, and the scene that sold me was the sword fight on the cliff, since it's fun on screen in a way the page never pulled off for me. Guess I'm the cousin Dave of that one.

Funny how a robot arm pouring coffee and a cheap camera out-sorting a warehouse crew gets a shrug, but the second someone says AI at a board meeting everyone acts like it costs a million bucks. That $200 vision setup doing 40 for 40 in under 10 seconds is the part people should be losing their minds over. Guess the big budget myth is easier to keep alive than actually testing a cheap camera on your own line. Your mileage may vary, but I'd bet half these companies already own the gear and just never plugged it in.