Nolan Lawson opens with a line that’s hard to argue with:

The worst fact about these tools is that they work. They can write code better than you or I can, and if you don’t believe me, wait six months.

He’s right. They do work.

Lawson again:

I didn’t ask for the role of a programmer to be reduced to that of a glorified TSA agent, reviewing code to make sure the AI didn’t smuggle something dangerous into production.

It’s a vivid image. But the people I know doing this work well look more like film directors than airport security—they’re deciding what gets built and when to throw the model’s work away. That’s a different job.

Lawson on economic gravity:

Ultimately if you have a mortgage and a car payment and a family you love, you’re going to make your decision. It’s maybe not the decision that your younger, more idealistic self would want you to make, but it does keep your car and your house and your family safe inside it.

I’ve seen this play out with every industry shift I’ve lived through—desktop publishing, print to web, responsive design. Each time, the people with financial obligations adapted first and mourned later. The idealism erodes fast when the market moves.

Where I part ways with Lawson is the framing. He presents two options: abstain on principle, or capitulate for the paycheck. There’s a third path—use the tools to expand what your craft can produce. The grief is real. So is the third path.