the moat was an ego

For a long time, some developers treated knowledge like a moat. The obscure flag, the weird workaround, the reason the build breaks on a Tuesday, all kept close so they could feel above everyone else. I always hated that: the gatekeeping, the condescending answers, the "read the docs".

LLMs filled that moat in almost overnight. Things that took years to learn are a prompt away now, for anyone. If you built your identity on that knowledge, it stings, and I think a lot of the pushback against AI comes from that sting.

The moat was the ego attached to the knowledge. What's left is taste, judgement and knowing what's worth building, which mattered all along.