Is it, though? I don’t know about you, but most (if not all) of my interactions with my computer are at levels above the kernel

Torvalds wrote the kernel, not the operating system. It’s a part of the GNU/Linux OS ;)

Maybe LibreOffice Draw can help you out? It has PDF editing capabilities

Wow, this was a treat to watch. Never would have imagined Brian Kernighan would be explaining shell pipeline to me in such a cosy setting