When I went to new employee orientation at Edwards AFB (the Air Force Flight Test Center) in 1959, we were shown 30 minutes of people getting killed while testing new unproven stuff like aircraft, ejection seats, parachutes, etc. The moral is that there is risk doing new stuff no matter how many engineers and other scientists have studied and designed it. It's even more risky when regular people do it, so I suspect LSR types eagerly read about new stuff, but are (rightly) wary to actually try it.
To do things right, it takes a lot of time and resources which an average person like me doesn't have. Another alternative is a SWAG (for the bravest among us), which generally results in a SNAFU. Or do it thoughtfully, slowly, carefully and for little cash.
