Software engineering is no more magical. Some people like to build things. Most do not.
A couch is more of a black box than a smart phone.
This misses the point. There are considerable advantages to Free and Open Source software even if you never modify it, the most obvious being that it tends to deter software vendors from adding user-hostile functionality such as tracking. (It isn't perfect in guaranteeing this, but it's a strong start.)
For more on these second-order advantages: [0][1]
> A couch is more of a black box than a smart phone.
In what sense?
With a smartphone full of proprietary software, it's extremely difficult to find out what it's up to. Same goes for modern smart cars. [2][3] Even if the software is benign, can you be sure about its future updates? There are no such concerns for a couch.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31071180
[1] https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.en.html
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37443644
[3] https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/privacy-nightmare-on-...
I would rather have 10% of the population programming than 5%. replace those numbers with whatever is more accurate, but the point stands.
if we can create devices and operating systems that make programming easier, why not do that? why purposefully make it more difficult, or make it difficult by not prioritizing developer experience? do we want a society of consumers, or one of empowered and informed users?
Why? I'd rather have a society where everyone is able to achieve their full potential, whatever that may be. If only 1% (or 0.1%) of people are uniquely good at writing programs, then that's who should be writing programs.
Maybe what you're saying is that we live in a world where writing programs is an essential skill, so let's make sure it's not unnecessarily difficult for artists to write programs. But with sufficiently good tools, I don't really see why an artist would spend time writing programs instead of more directly creating art.
Devices must remain open for the kernel programmers and hardware hackers of tomorrow to follow their curiosity and develop their potential.