Which is non-threatening for the inverse reason; somebody who owns my OS can probably damage my hardware if they want to. Ruining the SSD in my Air would mean a replacement just as surely as trashing the battery, and would be a lot easier.
Now in fairness, being able to make something in my computer start a fire is on a way different level. But we're getting that from "Miller said that it might even be possible to overload the battery so that it catches fire"— he hasn't done it, and doesn't even know if it's possible. My money is on there are some lower-level safeguards to prevent bugs in the firmware from causing fires, even if they do ruin the battery. Li-ion batteries are designed physically with the knowledge that they're a ticking timebomb waiting to go off, and I can't believe that nobody at Apple has started from asking "But what if I were actually trying to make it explode."
Now in fairness, being able to make something in my computer start a fire is on a way different level. But we're getting that from "Miller said that it might even be possible to overload the battery so that it catches fire"— he hasn't done it, and doesn't even know if it's possible. My money is on there are some lower-level safeguards to prevent bugs in the firmware from causing fires, even if they do ruin the battery. Li-ion batteries are designed physically with the knowledge that they're a ticking timebomb waiting to go off, and I can't believe that nobody at Apple has started from asking "But what if I were actually trying to make it explode."