Typing got cheap. Software did not.

The Hacker News thread for Senko Rašić's essay reached 792 points and 467 comments. 1

The essay pushes back on a familiar claim: “coding is easy; figuring out what to build is hard.” Its sharper answer is that both jobs matter. Software still has to behave correctly, survive maintenance, absorb new requirements, and fit the messy reasons people wanted it in the first place. 2

AI may lower the cost of producing a first draft. It does not remove hidden state, edge cases, old interfaces, shifting priorities, or the need to verify what changed. That is why “the model wrote it” is not the same as “the system is understood.” 2

The useful question is smaller and harder: what must stay true when the system changes? The answer still needs technical judgment and a clear reason for building the thing at all.