[inparen]

This.

> Then at some point he describes his first time writing a game in software. He goes on about how running all the variations he tried in software would take a skilled engineer months of work, and he had done it in a couple hours - and was ecstatic.

I am sure everyone felt ecstatic at some point, regardless of their trade or field, when they worked on something all day or longer and got it done. The sheer joy it brings afterward makes your mind completely calm; past and future cease to exist for that moment. There are always going to be people like that.

AI or no AI, 20 years from now, people will still be writing software because it just makes them happy. Sure, the nature of problems will change, but these are the people who will keep pushing the field forward.

“I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.” - Grandpa Einstein.