[geuis]

Your sniff test doesn't matter. There was a recent episode of 99% Invisible talking about an architect in NYC who proposed building a skyscraper out of a steel internal skeleton but all the best engineers of the day scoffed at him. He built it, it still stands, and it changed out skyscrapers have been built since.

Point is, I'm skeptical too but the fellow has made some more videos that go into more detail. They even directly answer some of your questions.

Don't immediately write something off without doing some due diligence first. The more I'm learning about this, the more practical it seems.