Like flying a plane but instead of logging flight data digitally, you film the cockpit gauges with a camcorder.

aged well.

On the other isn't that just how humans are?

Before I was a programmer I trained as an industrial electrician - I don't really understand how truly complex the power grid is or the transport network or the global financial system or hundreds of other networks, my partner works in logistics (shipping i.e. boats on the water) - the complexity there is insane as well, on a surface level those networks are sorta understandable but the detail is fractal, the closer you look the more detail there is, there has to be a fundamental limit but no one human could master one of them in a life time never mind more than one.

So do I expect the person in the street to understand that the internet is composed of bailing wire, gaffer tape and RFC's dating back to the late 60's, not really, it would be unfair to expect them to understand it when I don't understand other networks (or even the internet if I'm truly honest - not all of it or even most of it, it is vast).

It doesn't mean I'm not interested though.