>> Why are programmers granted such high status and wealth in our society for living in a self-created self-indulgent intellectual world of constant escapism
We know the specifics of the answer to this, I'd like to answer this in a general sort of way -
in Alvin Toffer's 'Third wave' way of looking at the world, the integrators in a division-of-labour system are its rulers. Programmers give you tools to integrate.
Remember, the key themes of the the second wave are :
"The Second Wave Society is industrial and based on mass production, mass distribution, mass consumption, mass education, mass media, mass recreation, mass entertainment, and weapons of mass destruction. You combine those things with standardization, centralization, concentration, and synchronization, and you wind up with a style of organization we call bureaucracy."
So you see , programmers are actually bureaucracy-engineers, creating the process and flow and channels for the industries of the world to play together
We know the specifics of the answer to this, I'd like to answer this in a general sort of way - in Alvin Toffer's 'Third wave' way of looking at the world, the integrators in a division-of-labour system are its rulers. Programmers give you tools to integrate. Remember, the key themes of the the second wave are :
"The Second Wave Society is industrial and based on mass production, mass distribution, mass consumption, mass education, mass media, mass recreation, mass entertainment, and weapons of mass destruction. You combine those things with standardization, centralization, concentration, and synchronization, and you wind up with a style of organization we call bureaucracy."
So you see , programmers are actually bureaucracy-engineers, creating the process and flow and channels for the industries of the world to play together