sorry matthias and steve, you'll get this twice, but i emailed the list from the wrong address...
i agree with the above comments, but you also could check out Douglas Rushkoff's "Program or Be Programmed". In the tradition of Marshall McLuhan's concept of "the medium is the message", understanding programming gives us a bit of control over the media revolution that is changing the world. When programs become the interface for commerce, social interaction, politics, and so on, having a level of literacy in programming allows us to be critical of the biases of this digital media. I don't think it is ever a waste of time to try and understand what is going on in the world around us.
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