> The thing about first order thinking is that it is very rarely useful, because the actual experts in the field have almost certainly thought of all the things that first order thinkers come up with, and deemed those ideas unworkable for various reasons.

Sure, but a useful article would focus on explaining the consideration and rejection of those obvious ideas, and what actually had to be done to implement something similar — rather than focusing on the even-more-obvious background material (how 2d printers have worked for decades) motivating the obvious ideas.