Neither does reading words. Literacy is not just reading - but it's a big component. Reading a book on cooking does not make one a chef. Reading the code in a toyota robot won't make you a kanban focused floor manager.

>>> Literacy is needed in any area, while artisans can go without software and still produce.

My argument is that so much of the world is going to be eaten by software that being illiterate will put you at enormous disadvantages. Not every part of work will be software-replaced, but so much of the surrounding "B-work" will be that, I don't know, an artisan bricklayer can still do their work well if they are illiterate but they will be disadvantaged "in life", from invoicing to whatsapp messages.

>>> Software is about logic, literacy is about conveying meaning.

Straight nope to that. More and more software is encoding meaning and enforcing that meaning. Unless we are talking about evoking emotions - and even then let me introduce you to some edges of the gaming community.

>>> Knowing how to code does not at all teach you how to communicate.

I think pretty much every software list of advise since 1980s has included something along the lines of "learn to write english better"