> Yeah, but programmers aren't trying to justify higher pay or claim they deserve some special treatment because they are "expressing themselves".

Yes, and no. There are entitled developers who think they deserve more than the average worker. And there are those developers who delve into their "Devine art" and are cranky because the world does not appreciate it. Usually those people are to be found around the more exotic languages it seems.

Art and IT have a big intersection from my experience. And majority of people in IT and also art are not entitled, nor are they on the Divine Train. It's just that as an outsider, you barely encounter those people, because of which it's harder to get a good picture of the art-scene.

Exactly, the markets are clearing just fine with programmers being paid what they are, given the sort of leverage businesses are getting out of them. The same cannot be said for art, the supply is vastly outpacing the demand, especially in light of the power law nature of art and entertainment consumption.

But, to +1 the other poster, programmers can be just as deluded as anybody else about their own importance, we don't have to indulge that either.

^And both are equally insufferable in their perceived self importance to the world.

Too bad I’m not a Roman Emperor, or else I’d host weekly public bouts where I’d pit them against one another in a fight to the death.

Obviously artists provide business value. That's why there is such a thing as the entertainment industry.

Depends on whom you ask.