The problem with this thinking is that every shoe cost effort to make. Software takes that much effort to make once, and then it can be duplicated for free whether it's awesome or crap. It isn't the same economics.

That's true. Although how the product is sold doesn't necessarily affect how we enjoy working on it imo.

You can love writing code and working on tricky projects the same way you can love hand-making boots.

You can love managing an agent swarm the same way you can love managing a shoe factory.

I was talking about enjoyment of the work, not the economics of it.