Earlier quoted context omitted.
And I bet you physicists argue that transistors are just abstractions of semiconductors
Which is, in turn, merely an abstraction over the actual quantum physics that governs what's really happening on the silicon. And quantum physics might itself one day may be found to be a higher level abstraction of what's really really going on, as happened with Newtonian physics before it. It's abstractions all the way down. I don't know why they're so maligned by programmers, they're the only way any work gets don…
This is why saying sth is "not how the machine works" is a fallacy of black and white thinking and not useful unless one is ready to be very specific abt how it resembles the machine and doesn't.
wrt C, the smartest thing to do is use it wisely and avoid dragons, the same way we e.g. use chemistry to make useful products without performing operations in unstable environments. And surround it with an appropriate layer of cultural expectations - keeping humans in the loop. You don't just do what the computer tells you, you use it to help you make judgments, but ultimately take responsibility yourself.
One can see this in Rust's efforts to not only develop a language, but a conscious culture around it. This will be successful until, like a 51% attack, it is outmaneuvered.
Anyway...