Only at OR Books: Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff

When human beings acquired language,

we didn't just learn to listen,

we learned how to speak.

When human beings acquired text,

we learned not just how to read,

but how to write.

and now that we've acquired computers,

we should learn not just how to use them,

but how to program them.

Back in the 1980's

learning to use a computer was the same thing as

learning to program one.

but as computers got easier to use and more user-friendly

the distance between using a computer

and knowing how it works got longer and wider

until we had extremely opaque interfaces

through which you do what the program says

without any idea of what's actually going on behind the screen

Ask any kid what facebook is for

and he'll tell you facebook is here to help me make friends.

no. they're looking to figure out how to monetize people's relationships

if you don't know what the software you're using is for

then you're not using it, but being used by it.

back when I first got on the internet

I saw networking as the next great leap in human evolution

we were moving towards a new networked organism

and I'm amazed at how few of us have actually decided to participate

in this product

in the digital age or in any age for that matter

who ever holds the keys to programming ends up building the reality

in which the rest of us live

thanks to these technologies

we now have the ability to remake our economy, our education

our government

even our religions

if we don't seize the opportunity to remake our world

I promise you someone or something else

will do it for us