The author seems to me to be arguing that it is now more accessible to be a hacker, and while I would agree with that, I don't think that really translates to a rise of hacking. There is a key point in here: If someone wants to learn about how things work now, you have some really great resources. See, the resources may be there, but I'm just not so convinced that are more people now who have the curiosity and motivation to learn.
I think there are more people interested in it now. I wouldn't go so far as to agree with the older folks that seem to think that "all those young kids know everything about technology", but at the same time, there are classes now devoted to introducing kids to some pretty high-tech stuff.
When I was in school -- in the East Bay -- about the most advanced tech class around was the a/v class in junior high.
I would also point out the meteoric rise in popularity of programming forums and the like.
(I am the author of the rebuttal post, in case it wasn't clear.)
When all you had was the machine and some electricity you had to learn. Typing listings made me good at debugging.
Basic with inline assembler, the sheer joy.
