the average person doesn't understand the ancient notation used for calculus; that doesn't make "calculus" arcane; and the article was writing in the past tense

the average person doesn't understand the ancient notation used for calculus; that doesn't make "calculus" arcane; and the article was writing in the past tense your point about those who copypasta-ed command incantations is reasonable, but they did get them from people who knew how to write them and conditions (like situational pathnames or dangerousness of side effects) are sufficiently variable to limit the scope of this style's applicability