Too dumb? No. Possessing the requisite knowledge, experience, time, funds, and desire? That's another story.
I agree that Mathematician worded it poorly, but I doubt it was meant the way you think it was. More that it wasn't something most of the people here would bother with, and if they did, they would do a fairly simplified system based on a PLD rather than, say, from
TTL components, or
MSI circuits, or
Tinkertoys, or
hand-wrapped electromechanical switches made from stainless steel paper clips (I actually read part of that book sometime around 1981, BTW, having found it in the local public library).
Or, you know, get a copy of a
circuit design and simulation program such as
Designworks,
EAGLE, or
Oregano and simulate it. That would be a good idea anyway, and not all that hard (though from the courses I took on computer architecture, which involved implementing about 95% of a MIPS system using Logicworks, I can tell you it isn't the easiest thing to do, either, even working at a fairly abstract level of design).
I think the will, time and money issues are the biggest ones. How many here
want to build hardware? I am guessing less than a quarter, even given the heavy DIY focus of this group. How many could afford the material? Few still I will guess. How many would have the time to work on it? Hardly any.
I agree that sneering at someone who builds a SBC from an existing CPU and calls it an original computer design is pretty harsh, though.
