>“How do you parameterize Y by X?” “Create a function that takes X and returns Y.” Doesn’t really seem React-specific.

I'm not talking about the what, but why would anyone think of using higher order functions to build user interfaces in the first place. It complicates the use case: building and mutating DOM Nodes.

>I think the opposite is true. The abstractions are more powerful when they afford building higher level abstractions on top of them.

And what may I ask requires so much power for building web front-ends?