>>10757
>what benefit
Learning at a very fundamental, 'mechanical' level exactly what makes electronic computers tick. Charles Babbage might have given his back teeth to have what we can obtain freely to hand so that even an amateur can create a real working computer from scratch.
>over ICs?
A relay computer will actually keep working after a major EMP.
>such computers would be even much slower.
Much doesn't even begin to cover it Anon. But OTOH, it's
infinity faster than no modern computers at all, which is what the survivors remaining will have after modern ones are destroyed in the above scenario. Heh, you could think of it as a 'rebuilding civilization from the neo-Stone Age' type of deal. :^)
Ofc, mostly it's just a fun hobby and educational thing. Not every.single.thing. has to have a bottom line attached to it, right Anon?