[prhn]

You can still be a programmer and identify with and participate in that group. AI hasn't eliminated programmers or programming, and it never will.

However, my best advice as someone with many distinct interests is to avoid tying any one of these external things to your identity. Not a Buddhist, but I think that's the correct approach.

He sort of comes to this conclusion in the final "So then, who am I?" section. The answer is you are many things and you are nothing. You can live deeply in many groups and circles without making your identity dependent on them.

If you're a programmer, what happens when programming isn't needed anymore?

If you're a runner, what happens if you get injured?

It's always been helpful personally to remind myself that

I am not a programmer. I am a person who programs.

I am not a runner. I am a person who runs.

[SecretDreams]

I align to everything in this post except the below excerpt. I think it's important to be a lot of things and nothing at the same time and to tie fulfilment to internal metrics rather than externalities.

> AI hasn't eliminated programmers or programming, and it never will.

It might not fully eliminate them tomorrow, but this technology is being pitched as at least displacing a lot of them and probably putting downwards pressure on their wages, which is really just as harmful to the profession. AI as it's being pushed is a direct attack on white collar CS jobs. There will always be winners and losers, but this is a field that will change in many ways in the not so distant future because of this technology - and most current CS prospects will probably not be happy with the direction the overall field goes.

Even if you do not personally believe this, you should be concerned all the same because this is the narrative major CEOs are pushing and we know that they can remain crazy longer than we can remain solvent, so to speak.