And, a 3D printer person would approach a problem very differently from a traditional machine shop guy or our duct tape guy.

It's a new world. Sure, lots of clever things can be done with an R/C network and some relay logic, but a very cheap computer board could watch the CEC bus, accept WiFi commands, and perform much more complex logic.

It's just a different set of tools and a different set of skills. The 3D printer person would probably feel helpless in a machine shop and the reverse is true too.