Programming and fatigue

I find programming much more tiring than it used to be. To judge from what I read, so do many other programmers. But I'm struck by how many of them think the fatigue is a bad thing and a sign they should change their workflows. I've been perceiving it as good, and even comforting. My reasons are simple: if I'm mentally fatigued, it suggests that I've been (i) diligently at work (ii) at things that require human brainpower and judgment. This is comforting because it is compatible with an optimistic view of human-AI teamwork: the AI is taking over the repetitive and obvious parts of the job, leaving me to do less repetitive, less obvious, higher-judgment tasks. It's no surprise that these would be more tiring. To be clear: I don't mean to glorify burnout. I do, however, suspect that diligent, professional programming will more often produce a kind of healthy fatigue, and that we might mistake this for impending burnout (because it would have more likely indicated burnout in pre-AI…

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