This reminds me of a section (I think it might be the beginning) of "Surely you're Joking, Mr. Feynman" where he recounts fixing radios as a youngster, and the outrage of a client of his that he at times would just sit and stare at the radio. Apparently the guy went around town telling people about this incredible thing he had witnessed -- this kid he knew fixed radios "by thinking."
For every incredibly complicated algorithm designed to solve some really huge problem and deployed at massive scales, there are another thousand little problems at a far lower scale. I did a project at a school once using a GA to automatically create class rosters based on gender balance, student social networks, and grade distribution. This used to be a two-week long guidance counselor project at the school. Now they press a button.
Everyone in this forum clearly understands the impact that software is having on the world. But nevertheless, I still think we underestimate the impact that a more computationally literate society with more readily available computing power can have. I think examples like this excellently written piece of code highlight that.
Here is one -- admittedly very bright -- person who can from the comfort of his browser come up with such a fascinating and ingenious solution to this computational problem. Yes, it is being used for flappy bird, but this would easily extend to maybe a whole set of domain of problems that he/his company/his community could be facing. Yes, it is flappy bird, but this alone could serve as the motivation for an incredible course in a high-school dealing with topics from coding to the theory of evolution. "The Evolution of Cooperation" had a similar effect on me -- Axelrod uses nothing but very elementary Algebra to make such a strong and insightful argument that got me thinking like nothing ever had before.
Here's hoping we make this kind of "play", and this sort of thinking, as widespread as possible in society.