I think at least a segment of (an, The?) economy grows from some kinds of unproductive churning. Maybe it depends how you define productive. I'd argue that gambling or gaming are not productive even though they are lucrative for some and fun for many.
Well, now we are getting into philosophical territory.
As a simple example, watching a movie doesn't produce anything, but it does give people joy. Similarly, eating anything tastier than the bare minimum gruel to keep you alive and healthy mostly just gives you extra joy.
Orthodox economics is perfectly fine with that. They deal in 'utility'. Fun is a perfectly fine product to deliver.
So eg gambling or playing the lottery can be perfectly rational, as long as you are aware that you are doing it for the entertainment value, and not as a financial investment.
Now for our situation: I hold that the extra work here doesn't provide any net gain in utility. Not even for people who like programming: there's enough other programming work left that's not just churn and that's not any less enjoyable.
Of course, the humble agnostic choice of orthodox economics is not the only possible one. If you are some kind of puritan or a paperclip maximizer, you'll know for a fact that producing fun is not productive. Only paperclips count (or whatever puritans optimise for).
