I think this is a pretty common goal. This video is a bit pessimistic, but it shows a lot of evidence that many tech billionaires are aspiring to that end. Most notably Peter Thiel
The use case for more is managing the history of it in a specific way to make it easier to understand. Most applications don't need this level of management since most applications don't have lives depending on them
I am also learning about the linux kernel, but not in an embedded context. Here are some good resources I have found.
https://man7.org/tlpi/ This book is considered the best overview of linux kernel interface. Its old, but still gives a broad coverage of topics.
https://lkml.org/ Browsing LKML is really helpful since it shows you where current development is happening and how kernel devs think. Some conversations get very advanced and nuanced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpPTRcz1no&t=67s&pp=ygUQZGF...