I find this weird too, question of "miniaturization" should come after theoretical stage is satisfied. Is this coming from a line of thinking where capitalistic sense avoids high costs or strict design sensibility where optimizition is a primary concern? The nuance is tiny but very important.
I agree, but the main reason why "miniaturization" exists is that it can be done in parallel with theoretical developments and allows you to make money off the results (therefore funding more R&D).
