Our family derives a lot of joy from stylized versions of our photos. For us, it is not a waste. If you do not derive anything positive from it, you will likely not use it, hence no energy wasted either. Your argument is objectively wrong.
Personal anecdote: I've asked Gemini 3 Pro to write a test for a function that depends on external DB data. It wrote a test that creates and deletes a table, it conveniently picked the exact production table name, didn't mock the DB interactions. Attempted to run the test immediately.
I would go further, and say we don't understand how next-token predictors work either. We understand the model structure, just as we do with the brain, but we don't have a complete map of the execution patterns, just as we do not with the brain.
Predicting the next token can be as trivial as a statistical lookup or as complex as executing a learned reasoning function.
My intuition suggests that my internal reasoning is not based on token sequences, but it would be impossible to convey the results of my reasoning without constructing a sequence of tokens for communication.
You're right about him putting out a few little games, which do not share the same game mechanics, but a lot of his work is based on repetition and refinement. Or to quote [1] himself:
"I am forever cursed to keep making the same game over and over again!! But at least it's fun.. Now, space!"
To me, Bob Ross's art wasn't so much in painting as it was in creating that synergy of education and relaxation by taking you with him through the joy of creation.
Something in Notch's live streams triggers the same nerves for me.
Watching Notch hacking on the Ludum Dare competition is such a comforting experience - to me he is the Bob Ross of game development. He also seems to end up developing the same thing over and over again with different shades of green on the leaves.
Even though you may don't like his style, you have to admire his pragmatism, productivity and humbleness.