Given my sort of 'maker' inclinations, I find these articles amusing. The "3D print a gun!" ones were similar.
Basically they come down to, if you learn how a system works, or how something is made, you can learn to implement or influence that system and/or build that thing. Back in the 60's the click bait was "kid learns how to build an atomic bomb!" This was pretty eye catching but really it is just physics, material science, and a bit of math.
That said, so many people rarely look past the surface of things, seeing something like a cell phone as an opaque magical brick that can do wondrous things. And yet all that the phone does, and how it does it, are knowable if someone chooses to invest the time. (admittedly it is a lot of time if you don't have the basics).
The headline, "People who know how radios work can affect systems that are based on radio." is so much less scary.
Basically they come down to, if you learn how a system works, or how something is made, you can learn to implement or influence that system and/or build that thing. Back in the 60's the click bait was "kid learns how to build an atomic bomb!" This was pretty eye catching but really it is just physics, material science, and a bit of math.
That said, so many people rarely look past the surface of things, seeing something like a cell phone as an opaque magical brick that can do wondrous things. And yet all that the phone does, and how it does it, are knowable if someone chooses to invest the time. (admittedly it is a lot of time if you don't have the basics).
The headline, "People who know how radios work can affect systems that are based on radio." is so much less scary.