Well said. Let's be honest, John Carmack is something of a rarity even in the gaming world. While I'm certain that he could handle the challenges associated with tearing down those abstractions, I'm not sure the throngs of other developers would fare so well.
Listening to people like Carmack, Torvalds, and others of their ilk is a good thing; but, we need to be cognizant that they are, themselves, special cases in the world of engineering and what can work well for them likely won't work well for the other 90% of the engineering world.
Listening to people like Carmack, Torvalds, and others of their ilk is a good thing; but, we need to be cognizant that they are, themselves, special cases in the world of engineering and what can work well for them likely won't work well for the other 90% of the engineering world.