But there is another side to his comment. The rest of us are left to gaze at it, awestruck and stupid. First, let's dispute part of what Clarke wrote.
Technology occurs in a non-magical context.
So, a five year old in this culture understands some of the basics about, say, television. She doesn't think there are little people in the box. So, we don't confuse the technology we don't understand with magic. Nevertheless, as our technology gets more complex, we may not view it as magic, but we are left with a type of mythic understanding that doesn't enable us to fix what breaks or tweak what works. For example, I'd venture that a large percentage of people believe that CDs are like the old LPs, only made smaller and with the grooves encased in smooth plastic.