I disagree that you'll be a worse computer scientist. Computer science doesn't happen in Plato's heaven, it happens in real processors and memory.
I tend to think focusing on abstractions is almost always the wrong approach. Abstractions should arise naturally as a solution to certain problems, like excess repetition, but you should almost always start as concrete as possible.
I would disagree with where you are drawing that line. I would say that computer science does happen in Plato's heaven; software engineering happens in real processors and memory. But most of us are actually software engineers (writing programs to do something) rather than computer scientists (writing programs to learn or teach something).
I agree that there is some value to purely theoretical work, but I think this is over-valued in CS. For instance, in the first year of physics instruction at university, problems are often stated in the form of: "In a frictionless environment..."
I think a lot of problems are created in the application of computer science because we treat reality as if there are no physical constraints - because often it is the case that our computers are powerful enough that we can safely ignore constraints - but in aggregate this approach leads to a lot of waste that we feel in every day life.
I think incremental cost should play a larger role in CS education, and if every practitioner thought about it more we would live in a better world.
> I think a lot of problems are created in the application of computer science because we treat reality as if there are no physical constraints - because often it is the case that our computers are powerful enough that we can safely ignore constraints - but in aggregate this approach leads to a lot of waste that we feel in every day life.
Undergrad "CS" education, probably for better (considering the career paths and demand), is more about teaching what you call software engineering than what you call computer science.
I tend to think focusing on abstractions is almost always the wrong approach. Abstractions should arise naturally as a solution to certain problems, like excess repetition, but you should almost always start as concrete as possible.