Painter/illustrator here. I mostly agree with you. I often have wondered if what I do is a total waste of time, long before generative models showed up. My close childhood peers became doctors and engineers, and there just isn't any comparison about our contributions to society. People get all whimsical when I bring this up and say "but what about the [spirit/feelings/blah]. I'm clear eyed about it though. If I could go back & re-roll my character sheet (i.e. slap my younger self into realizing STEM is cool while those doors were still open), I certainly would.

However, there's a line somewhere. I've spent most of my life around drab midwestern utilitarian/corporate/commercial buildings, and it has been noticeably depressing. In the periods where I've spent time in beautiful buildings, I have felt much better. Based on anecdata, I'm not the only one. There's something important & essential for humans about ornamentation & beauty. It's more than entertainment.

Humans can live on rice and kidney beans, but if one must do so without hope for more tasty options[0] it is demoralizing.

[0] lots of people are happy with spartan diets, but most often those people are doing so by choice.

H

Are those doors not still open today? Engineering schools take mature students.

I have ~50k in debt, and my GPA was garbage. Self study and hobbyist pursuits seem to be my place unless I find a specific field+program I really love enough to bet everything on.

You don't have to feel it, millions of people start painting or other artistic endeavors when retiring. Most of the time the [market] value is close to 0. AI does nothing here.

Anecdote: My grandma retired and started painting and has since passed. The market value of these paintings is 0, nobody would buy them as they are just average. But I will never get rid of them because she created it. They have value to me only.