Regarding computer usage, my experience with non-geeks is somewhat confusing. For example our customers: On the one hand, I spend hours explaining them the simplest things, while on the other hand they manage to process there home videos – cut them, insert effects – without any problems. Or my father, an engineer: For years, he wasn’t able to get the concept of clicking on an icon to start an application. But he’s doing advanced calculations in Excel.

I think, this breaks down to a matter of interest. These people are not really interested in understanding how computers or software works. It just doesn’t matter. But they are interested in making home videos, so they learn it. My father is interested in calculating the effects of changing parameters, and he figured out that Excel is able to do it, so he learned it.

Vice versa, my father experienced the same, when he was trying to explain the concept of a slide rule to me. He used it heavily (and still uses it from time to time), while I didn’t care. There are pocket calculators, so why care about something old fashioned like a slide rule?

Geeks are interested in computers in general, and non-geeks aren’t. This still is a wide field of interests. Think of the game players out there. They know so much about hardware, the pros and cons of this graphic processor against that, overclocking, RAM bursting. I don’t. I don’t even care.

Are all skills equal in difficulty? Yes, they are. Agriculure is a good example. But why do we not see a lot more physicists and neurosurgeons, as Aaron mentioned? The question leeds in the wrong direction. We see a lot of engineers (don’t they practice physics?) and a lot of doctors, but rather a few people become specialists. This mainly is a matter of chance and needs. Our society simply doesn’t need too much of them – while it needs a lot of factory workers. I’m not saying that everyone is able to become a neurosurgeons, but I bet that if there was a need for 50% of all people to become a neurosurgeon, there surely will be.

About learning: There is a difference in understanding a concept – which is difficult – and applying it to something new. If you understand what object oriented programming is about, it is easy to switch your language, moving from C++ to Java, for example. There are just a bunch of keywords and some libraries to be learned. Your local car repair man does the same, when a new model comes out. However, moving from procedural programming to OO is much more difficult, and I know quite a lot of people that didn’t manage to.

Last, I want to second Ilya about programming beeing more about language than math. Unless you do not deal with tricky algorithms (and normal life programmers don’t for about 99% of their time), programming is about expressing what you want in a way the compiler understands. Combining words to meaningful statements. OO took this even further, because it was designed to mimic human language, having nouns, verbs and objects.

The distinguishing factor is curiosity and persistence.

But going back on topic, if I had to pick a non-technical profession I’d become a writer. Writing is my second major interest and strength. Of course these days a writer would have to use a computer anyway.

Are some people more inclined toward learning new things in general? I could see myself learning any task if I put my mind to it. I imagine a lot goes into things like waste management, farming, public speaking, genetics, etc, but these things have to be teachable, right?

I think a big problem is the lack of confidence people have. I consider myself pretty geeky, but put a Palm pilot in front of me, a device I am not familiar with, and no, it isn’t intuitive. But I’ll learn it, probably fairly easily, and I’ll see what is so intuitive. But I’ve worked in tech support before, and you do get those people who are so afraid of technology that they assume they are dumb. One story I love which proves the point:

Tech support: “Ok, so are you looking at a blue screen?”
User (whispering to co-worker): “Is this screen blue?”

If it was a piece of paper, it wouldn’t be so hard, but for some reason computers/technology scare people into thinking they can’t get it. Math and science are considered “hard” by a lot of people, especially females, as opposed to language and communication programs, and I believe that is because in general people are raised to believe that it is ok to say, “Oh, I’ll never get that stuff.”