> I admit I have trouble reconciling “I don’t like using libraries I haven’t written” with “I love having robots write code for me”.

(speculating) The easier way out is to understand that the first approach didn't make much sense either (even at face value "wanted to understand his code inside and out" can be easily solved by reading/testing the library code), so it's easy to get hyped up by another fad, there isn't much inconsistency between those at the deeper level of personal fascination