It is a necessary truism at every abstraction layer there is at least one developer (dead or alive) who has the ability to rebuild the abstraction layer from on

It is a necessary truism at every abstraction layer there is at least one developer (dead or alive) who has the ability to rebuild the abstraction layer from one layer down. Speaking from a society point of view: The meme thrown around ensures developers learn to do exactly that and keeps the developer work force well trained and skilled, to rebuild things where necessary.