But even the Perl hacker's simplest technology is indistinguishable from magic to an outsider

Indeed - I've hacked together various other time-saving things at work which are simple to me, but unimaginable to my boss. That's no negative reflection on him; he's not really a hacker in any language and doesn't know what's possible (or easy).

++ for the Arthur C. Clarke reference! (even if unintentional) :)