if you know what you're looking at you can see clear drops in the quality of mechanical designs over the decades as computers became the preferred and then default design tool

I don't think the fault lies with the computer tools themselves really, except in transition periods where hard limitations of the software forced certain design decisions (e.g., PCB autorouting tools couldn't handle curves). rather, engineers and designers simply got worse at designing things as the tools made their jobs easier. machines designed by guys working with paper and clay and wood 80 years ago are absolute works of art compared with the garbage that's made today, at every price point

there are occasional exceptions of course, but they are *exceptions*