Steve Yegge argues that touch typing is a fundamental skill that all programmers should have.
I disagree. Being able to type at a reasonable speed is important, but touch typing isn't. I never learnt to do "proper" touch typing, but I type pretty fast and I don't look at the keyboard when I type. I also don't always use the same finger for each key - I use the finger which happens to be nearest to the key I want to press. I'm not overly terse when writing comments, emails and documentation. Improving my typing speed wouldn't make me more productive - the bottleneck is my brain, not my fingers.
Touch typing was invented for typing dictated text on mechanical typewriters which required a lot more force to operate than a computer keyboard. Programming is very different. Working on code there is much more punctuation, much more moving around the document and much more reading. Keeping hands in the touch typing position means that they are not in good places for punctuation and cursor movement, which is slower and leads to RSI.
Touch typists also dislike laptop keyboards. I prefer laptop keyboards to full-size keyboards - the keys are closer together and travel less far, which makes typing faster.