Yes, this keeps coming up and people respond rather reasonably but people insist on not understanding. In software if something is similar to "cleaning out clogged sewer pipes for the 999,999th time" then it has to be possible to automate it. If I have a task to clean up my code, I'll automate it then it'll take <1 sec to do it. When people say "software is hard" this is not some sociological argument, it literally is a mathematical argument and the reaction should be either acceptance or automating it. If I cannot automate something I need to sit down and think about it the same I think about "Columbus setting out for the New World" or "building the Sistine Chapel" or whatever, i.e. as deeply as my neurological faculties allow me.

For "it's just kluding APIs bro" kind of arguments, I invite you to look at no-code and low-code products and report us how well they work. Is it easy to "kludge together APIs" in this fashion and does it produce viable products? Why? Why not? If it's so easy that it's close to being automated, why can't we have a UI like Photoshop to create API consumer apps?

What cannot be automated has to be exhaustively thought by someone.