[qwertyuiop924]

No, it's not. It's a fundamental distinction between those who have learned to operate at that level, and those who haven't. That is it. People who started out on HLLs can gain those skills, because it's ultimately just another paradigm.

Saying those of us who didn't grow up on asm aren't true geeks rings of No True Scotsman to me.

In addition, just because we weren't born a decade earlier doesn't mean we think JS is low level. That's just a flat-out mischaracterization.