The cheapest possible ballpoint pen is made up of years of research into the plastics, the machinery required to create bearings with the tolerances necessary, the exact chemical makeup of the ink etc etc. It just seems to be a waste of brain-space to bother with making everything romantic.
You could cynically state that all aspects of civilization are incredible, so therefore nothing is. Or you could back up and marvel at the fact that out of nothing came something, out of an unthinking universe came self aware humans that literally took rocks out of the ground and reconstructed them so that they would think for us, and that we then used those thinking-rocks to cure diseases, enable near-instantaneous communication anywhere in the world, and literally launch people off this planet.
I would advise you to try thinking in the latter style, as life is more fun that way.
I wonder if a home-created ballpoint pen, that worked well, wouldn't feel a bit more magical or romantic than the one you get for free at the hotel or bank. Having made, for example, my own paint, prior to use, I can attest that doing so feels "magical" in a similar way that programming does.
“A book, a book full of human touches, of shirts, a book without loneliness, with men and tools, a book is victory.” ― Pablo Neruda, Odes to Common Things
We loose so many things all the time, the ability to make stuff, the ability to repair things, even the use of drills and hammers quickly fades away for the TikTok generation.
I love the notion of the OP and applaud initiatives like the various Smalltalks or https://gpblocks.org/ that try to keep the awe in our craft alive.
Is dancing is a waste of energy?