Please Don't Learn to Code (2012)

"can you explain to me how Michael Bloomberg would be better at his day to day job of leading the largest city in the USA if he woke up one morning as a crack Java coder?"

Politicians especially could benefit from having a clearer idea of how computers work, for everything from patent law, to internet regulation, to encryption, to AI ethics. These topics are only increasing in their relevance to geopolitics, and most leaders are comically ignorant of them. Exhibit A:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stXgn2iZAAY

Of course this isn't limited to those in politics; it applies to every decision-maker in society, from business executives to individual voters. Obviously all of these people aren't expected to write code in their daily lives. But having exposure to it and an understanding of the basic concepts is indispensable in today's world.

Or perhaps something is wrong with computing. Go back to the dream of "computer as a bicycle for the mind", and say

> if the mayor of New York City actually wants to use tools to help him do his job better, something is deeply, horribly, terribly wrong with politics in the state of New York.

and see how out of place it sounds.