I love the dumb pipe -- I'm finding it more and more as a product developer, that you have to mix helpers with the dumb pipe.

For example give user 100% control, while supplying actions that shortcut what would typically be a long human activity.

As soon as you begin relying on the automagical world without a good set of controls for the user, your users begin to have more questions and concerns about how the sausage is made.