The democratization of technologies always transforms us. Consider the enormous benefits from ubiquitous access to the automobile, air travel, and the personal computer. When the majority has access to technology new possibilities emerge, potential increases, and lives are improved. But, is access the whole story?At the first Hackers Conference in 1984 Stewart Brand told Steve Wozniak, “Information wants to be free.” The initial spark created by the printing press gave rise to books, periodicals, radio, television, and the Internet. Now we’re reaching the point where the free nature of information is empowering us in ways we never imagined at a pace that we’re still adjusting to.The vast majority of us are consumers of information and technology—not makers. We use a personal computer, but can we program it? We use apps but do we have the ability create them or hack them to make them work better?There is an emergent conversation about the potential to make programming accessible to everyone and how democratizing the ability to code will spark the most creative advance in human history. Major players like Code.org and many others are combining their voices to create a movement. Their message is that programming can be learned, in the future everyone will need to know how to program a computer, and our place in the world depends on the democratization of programming.
