As soon as you gamify something, it ceases to be the same kind of problem it was in its original form. I can't say work was gamified, but it certainly feels closer to that considering the core ideas behind the NFT/crypto gamification craze.
Program-by-diagram works for some game engines, for example Unreal Engine storyboard. I'm fairly sure that current AI will run into an issue that plagues business requirements: meetings. It'll be an outlet that actually generates some MVP after the conversation.
College projects were full of these kinds of issues. You'd be part of a group where there's say four of you, one or two are trying to control the direction, the remaining two are looking at each other simply trying to understand what language the first two are speaking. After working for say the first iteration, everyone has a chance to prove themselves, work/responsibilities/design-input naturally shift towards or away from individuals.
To your point about the "mold" which society creates/accepts, this social aspect alone is likely the biggest factor. People aren't and can't break out of these social "holds" and what's ironic is that there's almost a financial/social/system level safety net built into most countries. It's socially irresponsible there?
If we had insight about why the restrictions were applied, it would likely be more alarming. But this response in particular is a product of desensitized, you can't argue that morals and views have shifted even if you were a mod at some point, especially now e.g. post-Covid, post-Trump.