Hardware is still hard, and builders love it anyway

'Superhuman Hardware Design Is the Easy Part' argues that AI-assisted design doesn't solve manufacturing: a commenter reminds us that 'hardware is hard' because of the laws of physics, and a high-precision bolt for an F1 car involves countless processes. The author's drone story, set it on fire in July and crash it into the neighbor's roof in August, is the proof. A Show HN for a truly modular keyboard, which lets people build triangle or circle-shaped boards, draws questions about rigidity and material cost at volume.

A real-world data project fits too: Switzerland rendered block by block at 1:1 scale, built from government data, with the full map selling for 15 CHF. Similar energy runs through procedural tree growth and a Hallstatt Iron Age salt-mine find, with people loving the physical and the systemic.

The pattern is that software capability grows fast, but physical iteration still takes time, and developers show up eagerly for it.