They are consuming nicotine, and tobacco companies are invested in / are the companies producing products in that space. It seems functionally to be the same.
Only if you ignore... a lot. Cancer rates, smoking sections in restaurants, the smell, the yellow grime and used butts sprinkled everywhere, the impact on asthmatics... Smoking a cigarette gets you a lot more than just the nicotine.
A smoker moving to vaping is an enormous benefit to health and society.
That sounds like you are being disingenuous. Smoking sections haven't been a thing in the US for a long time (I went to the last one I could find around 2009). Waste from single use vapes is also a huge problem. Similarly there are health effects specific to vaping, time will tell if cancer is among them.
Nicotine by itself is harmless besides the addictiveness. A nicotine addiction is not going to drastically affect your mental state or cause socially disruptive behavior like domestic violence or armed robbery so it’s really nothing to be concerned about.
No, they are not remotely the same. Nicotine isn’t really that harmful, but combustion byproducts very much are. Also the effects on bystanders are orders of magnitude better.
Most of the harm from smoking comes from the smoke, not the nicotine or associated addiction.
A smoker moving to vaping is an enormous benefit to health and society.