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I think op was just saying as a bus on a local network for some very specialized application.

But you can do that already. DNS, ARP, TCP/UDP, and IP are all completely optional.

Just write a program to send and receive Ethernet frames. I believe it doesn’t have to contain IP.

Indeed - see industrial protocols such as EtherCAT or Powerlink, which use Ethernet frames with their own non-IP protocol on top.

aren't also ATMs using a protocol of the same "species"?