Yikes, I've totally been the mood killer too.

Herringbone is trickier than it looks. I ended up snapping a chalk line right down the middle before I even laid the first piece. @victorhill mentioning the slide is spot on, and that center line stops the walk. Getting each piece at that exact 45-degree angle is the real key, but once the first row is set, the rest follows.

Disagree on calling the tech stuff a loss. Those details are what ground the big ethical questions in something real. Ignoring them turns the whole conversation into a fluffy thought experiment.