ACI-026: The Generation Trap

Thesis

When the time cost of writing code approaches zero, the natural response is to write more code. This is the wrong response. Agentic coding shifts value from implementation (HOW) to judgement (WHY and WHAT). Developers who respond to cheaper code by producing more of it fall into a trap: they become prolific generators of output that no one has evaluated, curated, or connected to a real need. The scarce skill is no longer building -- it is knowing what is worth building.