The Glass Delusion is one of those medieval conditions that sounds made up until you read about it. Says a lot that we had a named syndrome for people who thought they were made of glass.
Intuitively the latter does feel closer to the truth (although maybe quantum computer would be even closer to reality). Or maybe that's just our contemporary lens of viewing technology and our place in the world, who knows what's next in a few hundred years. :)
edit: link for more context https://metaphors.iath.virginia.edu/metaphors/24583
but i guess that's the rhetorical move being used, substitute something the audience doesn't understand with something they do understand.
And you can understand a single line of code. But when all that code is wrapped inside a cellphone, or all those ionic transmitters in a skull - do you really "understand" either? It becomes a black box, with semi-predictable outputs.
But I agree, it’s not a compelling argument especially when you do understand at least a bit of both domains.