[RedDevil]

We can't be critical of smart technology while relying blindly on dumb technology, can we?

I repaired our close-in boiler yesterday. It had a faulty thermostat.
I did not want to mess with it at first so I mailed the factory for a replacement part.
It would have cost me 100 Euros ($115). For that money I could almost buy a new one, whole! And I'd lose the warranty, they warned me.
I had already told them the boiler was 7 years old. Do they take claims on boilers that old? What would I lose then?
They told me on second thought I'd lose Nothing. By which they meant: Money.

So I just opened the old thermostat instead and saw how the switch connectors in the regulation mechanism had sagged over time.
I rotated the regulation shaft until it operated the bi-metal switch in its normal range. Now it works fine again.
Simple technology, easily adjustable by hand.
If it were an IC based device probably wouldn't have a chance to fix it.
Long live old technology!

Except that the IC would probably not have failed, while this mechanism had its failure almost designed in as to make you buy the replacement part by which they'd make more money than if they sold a whole new boiler.

Maybe they could rig the IC in a smart thermostat to make it fail over time.
Smart technology can be made like that.
But dumb technology can be made like that too - and it happens.