Forgive me if "just dig your way out of the hole" doesn't sound appealing.

You're free to use whatever tools you like.

> You're free to use whatever tools you like.

this is important, i feel like a lot of people are falling in to the "stop liking what i don't like" way of thinking. Further, there's a million different ways to apply an AI helper in software development. You can adjust your workflow in whatever way works best for you. ..or leave it as is.

Surely you, a programmer, can imagine a way to automate this process

No, I actually haven't made, nor desire to make, a way to automate "thinking about, researching, and solving a problem".

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