The conversation about AI and the future of software engineering is often framed incorrectly. It usually oscillates between two extremes (total replacement or total irrelevance). Both are intellectually lazy.
A better framing is simpler (and more uncomfortable):...
The reason why many highly intelligent or deeply skilled individuals struggle to remain in large groups of “similar” people is more nuanced than it appears. In social environments, similarities and shared activities often become tools for gaining status, influence, or validation. Group dynamics tend to reward conformity and signaling rather than independent reasoning, which naturally discourages people who value authenticity and intellectual autonomy.
Most people place great trust in individuals or groups that would discard them the moment their interests diverge. This isn’t necessarily malicious, it’s a reflection of basic social incentives and coalitional behavior. Others adopt diplomacy not as a path to understanding, but as a strategy for gaining social capital by aligning with the majority....
Two-line summary: We’re running the economy more on credit than on income and production (that buys time, not value). More intermediaries won’t fix low circulation, heavy debt service, and weak productivity; better rails and real production will.
I know, by this title you might think I’ve turned into some kind of communist or fallen for socialist rhetoric. That’s not it. I don’t like labels. I prefer to see myself as neutral, someone who looks at things as they are (beyond ideology or convenience)....
I think it’s great that we’re in the age of AI, but I also feel we’re leaving something behind. These tools let someone with technical skill produce more in many scenarios (they clear out repetitive and even boring tasks), yet maybe that piece we are removing is fundamental to the puzzle.
We’ve never had a time so practical and capable for building things, with free or low-cost tools, easy access, and robust documentation. Still, maybe the true integrity of value lived in the difficulty of access and in the formal learning curve of a subject. I’m not saying new teaching modes aren’t welcome (they are). I’m saying that using AI every day for everything erases the “secret” inside difficult learning, and maybe that very difficulty carries lessons we cannot replace. Today those lessons get drowned out by a bunch of simple instructions (copy, paste, run)....