The electrician pulls into your driveway. They're scheduled today to fix your fire alarms that have been going off intermittently at the most fucking inconvenient time (3am. Always 3am). The electrician had come by a couple of days beforehand, when you showed them the issues, talked about remedies, agreed the plan.

The electrician comes to your door with all their tools and equipment. They bring their helper too. They're going to set the helper up for success so they can do the work independently -- they're just going to leave the helper to get on with the labour. They walk around your house, electrician pointing out exactly what needs to be done -- where, how, what -- leaving the equipment to be installed in each room. The electrician does most of the talking, with a quiet acknowledgement coming from the helper to affirm they understand the job. The electrician lets you know it's all good, and they're heading out to leave their helper to finish it, and they'll invoice you after the work is complete.

The helper gets on with the job. Moving quietly through your home, doing the work. Removing mounting plates, screwing in replacements with a cordless drill, testing each -- beep -- one, moving the ladder, sweeping cobwebs and dust away. All silently, with nary a peep out of them.

And they're done. They pack -- quietly -- and leave without a word.

Job. Done.

2026

The software engineer sits down at their desk. They're scheduled today to fix a crasher that's been terminating the app intermittently at the most inconvenient time (always in front of the VP. Always). The engineer had looked at the issue before -- traces, videos, manual repros -- to work out possible remedies; agree the plan.

The software engineer opens up their prompt, with their tools ready, processes documented. They're going to set their agent up for success so they can do the work independently -- they're going to let the agent get on with the labour. They look around their code together, the engineer setting waypoints, indicating the problem that needs to be solved in each component. The software engineer is doing most of the writing, with a quiet acknowledgement from the agent that it understands the goals, and the definition of success. The software engineer lets the agent know they're going to head out and let them get on with it, but they'll check in when it's complete.

The agent gets on with the task. Moving quietly through the code base, doing the work. Checking against their todo list, running tests, checking the code -- missing semicolon! -- lints, making sure the traces show the events happening. All silently, with nary a hand raised out of them.

And they're done -- saying all the tests passed (534/535; one known skipped test). They commit quietly, and leave without a word.

Bug. Fixed.

Future Echo

Software engineers direct, cajole, and coordinate their robots in a myriad of different ways. Some seek to massively scale up by creating a vast system of agents orchestrating, monitoring, assessing, reviewing, and constraining their work. What they lose in efficiency, they gain in scale. There are others who lean on 'measure twice, cut once' to hands-off/hands-on their agents to achieve their goals. They still believe in their art. Neither is 'best' nor 'better than'. Nor are they the 'worst' or 'worse than'. There just is.

Today's token-based agent is tomorrow's embodied robot. Able to take on tasks at the direction of an expert, and complete them to a commercially viable level of satisfaction.

Tomorrow, the electrician won't be dropping off a 24-year-old apprentice to perform a rote job. They'll be dropping off a humanoid robot at the worksite from the back of their uniquely constructed van. They'll show the robot the job, point out the constraints, and leave them to get on with it while they head to the next worksite with another robot.

We're seeing the future today. We're just not ready to accept it.