Craft and Satisfaction

Here’s Sean Voisen writing about how programming is a feeling:

For those of us who enjoy programming, there is a deep satisfaction that comes from solving problems through well-written code, a kind of ineffable joy found in the elegant expression of a system through our favorite syntax. It is akin to the same satisfaction a craftsperson might find at the end of the day after toiling away on well-made piece of furniture, the culmination of small dopamine hits that come from sweating the details on something and getting them just right. Maybe nobody will notice those details, but it doesn’t matter. We care, we notice, we get joy from the aesthetics of the craft.

This got me thinking about the idea of satisfaction in craft. Where does it come from?

In part, I think, it comes from arriving at a deeper, and more intimate understanding of and relationship to what you’re working with.

For example, I think of a sushi chef. I’m not a sushi chef, but I’ve tried my hand at making rolls and I’ve seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi, so I have a speck of familiarity with the spectrum from beginner to expert.

When you first start out, you’re focused on the outcome. “Can I do this? Let see if I can pull it off.” Then comes the excitement of, “Hey I made my own roll!” That’s as far as many of us go. But if you keep going, you end up in a spot where you’re more worried about what goes into the roll than the outcome of roll itself. Where was the fish sourced from? How was it sourced? Was it ever frozen? A million and one questions about what goes into the process, which inevitably shape what comes out of it.

And I think an obsession with the details of what goes in drives your satisfaction of what comes out.

In today’s moment, I wonder if AI tools help or hinder fostering a sense of wonder in what it means to craft something?

When you craft something, you’re driven further into the essence of the materials you work. But AI can easily reverse this, where you care less about what goes in and only what comes out.

One question I’m asking myself is: do I care more or less about what I’ve made when I’m done using AI to help make it?