So what is important is not that 10 or 20 times the work can be done, but that you are stressed out and exhausted while doing your work?

I burn through $5,000 a month in API tokens. I am the last person to romanticize manual toil.

The issue is the difference between using AI for shallow outsourcing ('summarize this') and deep cognitive work ('stress-test this architecture'). AI should be a cognitive amplifier for much harder problems, not a shortcut to bypass critical thinking entirely.

It is difficult to have any bandwidth to protest about the state of everything if you're burned out.