Comment by sgtnoodle

I appreciate your distinction, but I still think my point stands. As the technology is iterated on and refined based on years of feedback from real world use, I would expect the ideal environment for a given class of technology to converge on the typical operating environment. Decisions will be made that shift the physical properties one way or another. Silicon will be doped with different impurities. Transistors will be made with different sizes and geometries. Different metals and plastics will be used. Different voltages will be applied.

People desire practical technological solutions to serve their needs. A box of "spinning rust" doesn't desire much of anything. A CPU is just a rock that's better at arithmetic than another rock.