I'd be interested to know what the answer is as well. There are two projects underway by friends of mine who are trying to bring simple programming to younger generations. One of these is Nifki (accessible through the web, allows user to make simple games etc), and the other is Eben Upton's project to build a sub-£10 programmable computer that plugs into the TV (basically a microcontroller with a video output). That system will run Lua, but have the option of direct hardware access for the curious.

I have a horrible suspicion that there's a horde of programmers somewhere, cranking out business objects and database reports in VBA and the like who not only don't know about the lower layers but whose minds recoil from the detail and mechanical simplicity of it.