Look at a mining dump truck, locomotive, or ship. To put it simple for dumb dumbs, bigger job, bigger engines, more cylinders. Hate to be so direct, but some people will argue anything. HS
All of what you listed has more powerful yet smaller engines now, than 15 years ago. Doing more with less is called progress, any way you look at it. I think you meant to say "To put it simple for dumb dumbs, bigger job, bigger engines, more cylinders is caveman mentality, where the bigger stick or stone wins the day. If all the cavemen thought like that, we'd still be chucking stones and sticks to get something to eat. At some point someone came up with a better idea..." You're right though,
some people will argue anything...
What a lot of people fail to realize, boost, whether it is turbocharged or supercharged, is not some magic voodoo. It is simply a way of increasing displacement without increasing the cylinder size. Engines displace a mix of air and fuel vapors/mist. Compressing the air so a larger volume fits in a smaller cylinder is all a turbo or supercharger does. To be very technical, a boosted engine is variable displacement.
As others have said, with the cylinder and everything along the way being built with the intended pressures in mind, it's not really any big risk. Lots of smaller volume vehicles have proven this time and time again.
Are there issues within the Ecoboost line of engine? Yes. Are they anything out of the ordinary? No... Most of the issues with the EB engines are issues they could have with any engine, and have had the same issues on many past engines. No reports of spark plugs breaking off in the engines, so that's an improvement...