Should this same approach to literacy also be applied to the machines we drive around every day?
I'm honestly curious. Because while I'm a hacker and know how to do many things with my computer, I'm literate because I fell in love with the machine as a child.
But I spend at least an hour a day commuting in my deathbox, and all I know is how to change gears, start/stop, and (more hp + lower weight = faster).
To a novice, a car is about driving. After you learn more about cars, a car is still about driving. You're still doing the same basic things -- your extra knowledge doesn't give you much more power.
On the other hand, to a novice, a computer is about browsing the web, playing games, sending email, and so on. But after you learn more about computers, you can do so many more things. Extra knowledge gives you a lot of extra power.
If you're stalled in the middle lane because you didn't ever check your oil and are backing up traffic, then yes.
And while more hp + lower weight = faster, more hp = faster and lower weight = faster, generally. Ceteris paribus, The ratio of hp and weight is the fasterfication factor.
> Should this same approach to literacy also be applied to the machines we drive around every day?
Yes, and it is. You can drive your car anywhere you want.
But it's so hard to hard to pick where to go, it's much simpler to pick from a simple list of places. Our car only drives you to the top 20 most important locations of your town, we find that our customers don't want to go anywhere else. We are sunsetting your ability to drive to unimportant places.
I'm honestly curious. Because while I'm a hacker and know how to do many things with my computer, I'm literate because I fell in love with the machine as a child.
But I spend at least an hour a day commuting in my deathbox, and all I know is how to change gears, start/stop, and (more hp + lower weight = faster).