"Unbricking" will hopefully work automatically, because there is no other option. But that can also fail and there is no way to know, or influence it.
I use bricking in the definition of mobile phone tinkerers .. there are many results for unbricking btw, but I just checked and with the first result it seems that Apple now uses unbricking for activating a new device. Because technically before, it is also just a brick - but here I would agree, that it is not a appropriate term, but rather should be for somehow broken devices.
The JPL doco (>>36941433 >>36942321 ) calls it "Command Loss".
In other words it was effectivly a brick to me.
But since it was not a surface pro (I considered buying instead of that one), I could open it and disconnect the battery.
And in effect, unbricking it. Quite trivial fix sure, but nearly impossible with many modern devices, where the battery is glued in.
My point is, not every mode of operation is desired, especially if you cannot change it. Then you might as well have a brick in terms of usefulness.
It was not making its own decisions, to achieve some goal.