No, my argument was a form of “argument from authority”. It is not always reliable (particularly if the “authority” is an expert on the wrong subject for the case at hand), but it’s generally a good guide if you stay alert for the pitfalls.
I don't believe the tech industry is arguing from "authority" because the only people who really know how Apple's stuff works, is Apple. I believe the tech industry is arguing "ad populum" meaning they have the opinions they do because other people have those opinions.
Now ctdonath2 seems to think the security functions exist in hardware, and are therefore impossible to defeat, and I think they exist in firmware and perhaps utilize flash ram or hardware registers somewhere, and can be accessible either directly or indirectly through a firmware update.
I think the rest of the tech industry will have to come down between these two extremes as to the "how", but it is obvious most of them has already come down to a single position on the question of "whether."
The "how" is a legitimate "from Authority" point, but the "whether" is mostly a "from popularity" position on the part of the "tech industry."