I'm sorry, but no, just no. Blocks loaded into memory is not anywhere near equivalent to blocks rendered. Every game has a large number of per tick processes, most probably have more than minecraft. Even with the number of blocks, the number of polygons per block is really low and the number of polygons rendered at any given time is low compared to games with high quality graphics right now. Not to mention the fact that it's just rendering basic polygons with low-res textures and doing very little of the other effects that other games do.
If the graphics and processing in minecraft was nearly as intense as you're making it out to be there's no way it would be able to run in a java vm, which adds its own restrictions and overhead, at any kind of playable quality.
Do some research before making wild claims about how amazing the efficiency of minecraft is.
Wow, nice flame war and probably no one reading this far anyway.
In summary, there are two valid reasons why silk touch should not collect pig spawners from monster spawners:
1. Mojang said no. Valid reason which overrules everything else unless they can be convinced otherwise.
2. It's wrong. Monster spawners should not become pig spawners. The fix is obviously to have monster spawners stay monster spawners instead of becoming pig spawners.
The only possible third issue is performance issues but I have no data to back that up either way.
I personally have a 9x8 wheat farm that produces food faster and with less inconvenience than a pig grinder would. Food would not be removed from the equation since you still have to sit in a specific place for a specific amount of time for it to be accumulated and systems for that already exist. The examples of blocks that weren't placeable such as leaves and ice have almost all become placeble since then so I fail to see how that's a good argument for not being able to place them.
Now, if anyone bothered to read this far I'll give you the best reason why it should stay (actually why it should be fixed so you pick up the actual monster spawner, not pigs). The reason is silk touch is lame without it. What's the point of silk touch? So you can get ice blocks which you can already do in snow biomes with a bucket of water? What does silk touch do that's unique and justifies the incredible investment it takes to actually get the enchantment? The only thing that makes it worthwhile is getting blocks that you can't otherwise get. How many of those are those not counting monster spawners? Ores? Not a whole lot of point moving those unless you want to decorate your house with glowing redstone ore blocks. Ice? It's inconvenient but you can achieve the same things in a snow biome. There may be a few more blocks in the end that are only acquired this way, I haven't been there yet but you couldn't get the blocks out yet anyway. But, really, what's the point of silk touch without something useful like this? It's a huge investment for a minor convenience? Unless something else is added that requires it, moving monster spawners is the only thing that makes the investment to get silk touch worth the time. You might as well remove the enchantment.
The protection amount shouldn't be in primary HUDspace, because it's not in constant flux anymore. I suggest that they move that guage to somewhere on the inventory screen, and show us the durabilities of each piece of armor we're wearing on the HUD above the health.
3
If the graphics and processing in minecraft was nearly as intense as you're making it out to be there's no way it would be able to run in a java vm, which adds its own restrictions and overhead, at any kind of playable quality.
Do some research before making wild claims about how amazing the efficiency of minecraft is.
1
In summary, there are two valid reasons why silk touch should not collect pig spawners from monster spawners:
1. Mojang said no. Valid reason which overrules everything else unless they can be convinced otherwise.
2. It's wrong. Monster spawners should not become pig spawners. The fix is obviously to have monster spawners stay monster spawners instead of becoming pig spawners.
The only possible third issue is performance issues but I have no data to back that up either way.
I personally have a 9x8 wheat farm that produces food faster and with less inconvenience than a pig grinder would. Food would not be removed from the equation since you still have to sit in a specific place for a specific amount of time for it to be accumulated and systems for that already exist. The examples of blocks that weren't placeable such as leaves and ice have almost all become placeble since then so I fail to see how that's a good argument for not being able to place them.
Now, if anyone bothered to read this far I'll give you the best reason why it should stay (actually why it should be fixed so you pick up the actual monster spawner, not pigs). The reason is silk touch is lame without it. What's the point of silk touch? So you can get ice blocks which you can already do in snow biomes with a bucket of water? What does silk touch do that's unique and justifies the incredible investment it takes to actually get the enchantment? The only thing that makes it worthwhile is getting blocks that you can't otherwise get. How many of those are those not counting monster spawners? Ores? Not a whole lot of point moving those unless you want to decorate your house with glowing redstone ore blocks. Ice? It's inconvenient but you can achieve the same things in a snow biome. There may be a few more blocks in the end that are only acquired this way, I haven't been there yet but you couldn't get the blocks out yet anyway. But, really, what's the point of silk touch without something useful like this? It's a huge investment for a minor convenience? Unless something else is added that requires it, moving monster spawners is the only thing that makes the investment to get silk touch worth the time. You might as well remove the enchantment.