I am feeling quite miserable about the future of my industry (computer programming, free software, open protocol+crypto standards)

when I remember my first steps into computers i recall the huge fun, creativity and discovery and a fantastic sense of intrinsic achievement when i made a new thing work or made a jump in understanding.

what us making me feel gloomy now is anyone starting out today wont feel a lot of that, and if they do they still wont be heading for a career containing those feelings if contemporary cleptocracy-driven AI continues its growth into everything.

for the last few years so many things have been obduscated behind huge frameworks that few fully understand, if that wasnt difficult enough, more things now will be cloaked behind some badly written AI prompt for a non-determisitc closed model machine. Its almost worse than a compiler service you are locked into.

There seems to be no room for understanding any more.