Oh you're right, I didn't notice this behavior but it's also on the wiki :)
Can indeed swap this out with just an OR, or use the OR gate to handle null.
Thanks for speaking out!

Not sending a signal or sending 0 is equivalent when you are sending to a LOGIC (!) component: that signal is discarded.
38 signals containing 0, being discarded, and 1 signal that is true will result in:
false OR false OR false OR false OR false ... OR false OR true
The result is: true, the OR component will send its programmed true value.

Only true for logic components, OR, AND, XOR.

That won't work, because sending NULL is not considered falsy and will not inform you there's nothing in the bus. You'd merely trigger your system downstream and be unable to shut down.

This showcase shows you how to detect and handle NULL because it's basically always asking if there's something in the bus.

All you need is a single OR component, it will output the true value if anything sends 1 to either of the inputs. That means you can have 10 wires from sensors, even more if you connect them with WiFi components.