Not really. We had thermostats and mechanical timers not even 20 years ago in washing machines and dryers. No computers necessary. Arguably most work has been government regulation, or cost of resources like gas, electric, and water, in the name of efficiency. Those components were made for decades, worked for decades, and were available decades later. Now machines are deprecated 1-2 years after purchase and parts are unavailable, and un-repariable because of potting and proprietary chips and tamper resistant roms.
