When Code Becomes Commodity, Taste Becomes Talent

As generative AI democratizes software creation just as the printing press democratized books, the scarcity in engineering shifts from coding ability to architectural judgment and taste. This mirrors Aldus Manutius's 1501 insight: competitive advantage comes not from producing faster, but from knowing what problems matter and solving them with excellence. When code generation becomes abundant, discernment becomes the premium skill that separates thriving teams from commodity service providers.