In the past, being a genius meant having enough leisure time to spend learning what was a comparably small body of knowledge. Then spending more of that time expanding that knowledge, ultimately transmitting it through a written or spoken medium to a broad body of people.
Today we often pay attention to raw skill in a field as a proxy for "genius". We applaud a competitive coder, but this may be the modern equivalent to applauding a fast brick layer.
Are we missing the longer/deeper forms of work?
Competitive coding is still quite creative, which you contrast with brick-laying where muscle memory instead plays a big part. Perhaps compare instead to middle ages masonry experts who used custom cut rocks to build various curved outer walls and arches.
I agree that competitive coding is less creative generally than many other types of programming - often it is learned pattern matching combined with great quality execution.
It’s so easy to stream what you want to watch. Before, X-Files was only on once a week and video games were expensive and you had to go to the store.
I had my X-Files night or Buffy night. Then I’d literally go and find other things to do: read, draw, program. Now I can easily queue up all the shows I want and just watch it all.