Oh, we're definitely in agreement- conceptually the same, implementation details of a few orders of magnitude different.
Mostly I was replying to the idea that "hey, we've known how to do this for 100 years". Sure we have- conceptually. We knew that batteries/electricity + magnets could implement the same pattern as "chemicals exploding". But we sure as heck didn't know how to make it practical.
That's why it's 100 years later and very few of us have either electric cars or rail guns.
Mostly I was replying to the idea that "hey, we've known how to do this for 100 years". Sure we have- conceptually. We knew that batteries/electricity + magnets could implement the same pattern as "chemicals exploding". But we sure as heck didn't know how to make it practical.
That's why it's 100 years later and very few of us have either electric cars or rail guns.