consider this:

CREATE TABLE lel(foo STRING);
INSERT INTO lel VALUES('0123');
SELECT * FROM lel;

here SQLite will corrupt the data. you will get 123 instead of 0123 back.

why? because the string-type is called TEXT not STRING, and SQLite doesn't understand STRING, and what does SQLite do when it doesn't understand the column type? it fallbacks on treating the column as NUMERIC. and when you do SELECT CAST('0123' AS NUMERIC) you get 123

NUMERIC is a stupid fallback, and can lead to data corruption. IMO the fallback-type should be BLOB, not NUMERIC. when SQLite doesn't understand the type, it should just store the data as-is and make no assumptions about it, AKA BLOB.