Version control took a while because most early version control systems were brittle and had poor developer UX. Once we got mercurial and git and nice web UIs, the transition was actually pretty fast IMHO.
The same could be true for coding agents too, or maybe not. Time will tell.
.... which is the problem here. The internet took decades. The iPhone didn't change anything this quickly either. We're seeing massive brain rot in many studies, no real world data that actual shows productivity gains.
This adoption rate / shoving is insane. It is not based on anything but dollars.
The way I think of it is the difference between financial wealth and real wealth.
No new real wealth can be created but financial wealth may transfer from the firms buying stuff to the large tech firms - thereby creating new financial wealth for big tech stockholders. In the long run the two should converge - but in the short run they can diverge. And I think that’s what we are seeing.
The fervor with which some feel the need to defend AI is what is incredible. Adoption, innovation, impact, not so much.
The attempt to compare it with Version Control, with sliced bread, with plumbing and sanitization practices. Think of any big innovation and compare it with it until people give in and accept this is the biggest bestest thing ever to have happened and it is spreading like wildfire.
Even AI wouldn't defend itself this passionately but it conquered some people's hearts and minds.
AI adoption is, for better or worse, voluntarily or not, very fast compared to other technologies.