I think we are all collectively coasting on a wave of lagging behind the current technology. Yes the new models have been exceptionally strong. But I think it's just because developers are exposed to the ecosystem more that we fear its impact more. In reality most white collar work is about one or two generations of AI models away at most from being easily replaced. Basically anything that doesn't involve human contact. Like I'm sorry but a lot of jobs in billing or middle management or form processing are not more difficult to replace than managing a whole ass several million LoC legacy application with 8 layers of architecture. As soon as AI can reliably navigate these quantities of context and memory, it's over for a lot of professions as we know them.

I keep myself sane by one, as others have said, realizing that developers will still very likely have a better understanding of how to use AI to create stable and maintainable software; There's more to software development than just coding.

Second, I am increasingly becoming aware that I'm more than my white-collar output, which I feel like many devs struggle with specifically since programming is also many devs personal hobby. It's a bit depressing when you have an idea for a side project to solve a personal problem and Opus can shit it out in 5 minutes. But I've also realized it frees up a lot of time. I can realize a lot of those small automations that were piling up on my backlog now. Ideas that I dreamed up but never had the time to personally implement. I can write more. I can read more small blogs by real humans with real opinions. I'm learning more about networking and selfhosting, topics I never had much time for because I spent my little free time on coding projects. And I will probably also get back into game development since that's where creativity and expression, as opposed to implementation, really shines, and that's something that I don't see AI taking away from us very soon.

As for the economical impact, well, lol lmao we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there. I just think that personally by the time I myself am affected by this problem, we have a global crisis anyway so it's not really like I can personally prepare for it.