>>>To me the need for software developers will be with us for a lot longer than the need to put trains on railroad tracks
>I wouldn't bet on that.
>Trains have been riding on tracking for over 150 years and they're still going strong.
>Programming as we know it has been around for about 70 years, if you include those boards they used to wire for tabulators. Fewer if you don't.
>I wonder what programming will look like if it's around at all, 80 years from now.
>
>An MIT guru I read liked to distinguish between dealing with atoms and dealing with electrons.
>It's the electron stuff, he said, that is changing so quickly, almost by the hour.
>If you want atoms tho, some Fedex guy still has to bring the box to your doorstep and it either flew or rode on some kind of wheels to get there.

Programming will definitely still be around 80 years from now. You can't unring the bell.

Let's just say I disagree with the MIT guy, without being disagreeable ;-)