The decision to accept failure and destroy a piece is never an easy one. I use an electric potter's wheel, an electric kiln and a gas fired brick kiln with a rolling floor and door. I also do surface treatment and revision with an airbrush and a sandblaster powered by an air compressor. The technology involved in ceramics is ancient, and in terms of the basics, it has changed very little since the Greeks. It is in the subtitles, and in being able to work quickly, produce more work, and do more with less help that the technology has produced change in the field.
Electricity seems to have produced that kind of change in almost every field.
I have my clay mixed industrially and shipped in, and my glaze materials are mined and refined all over the world and shipped in. Sometimes I use undustrially prepared colorants, too. Mass production of materials and equipment allow for some very sophisticated technology to be available to hobbyists and students, as well as professionals, and it is possible to fire kilns with computers. For the most part, I do not think so. It does give access to almost anyone to be able to work with clay with only a little education.