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I suspect this happens in all technical professions as things advance: you learn first principles and low level implementations in a formal training program/degree, but the demands of the industry to be productive require that you use and trust abstractions.

Even my doctors don't know some things about various drugs they prescribe me, because I can afford to spend the time reading the literature that only pertains to me. I'm sure their biochemistry background means they could definitely outperform me if they wanted to do a deep dive, but they know the important parts, and they know how my condition stacks up in the compendium of total knowledge and clinical experience they have. I don't think anything important is lost if they cannot at the drop of a hat tell me the half life and mechanism of action if I grill them on it.



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