I know lots of runners. They still love it and push themselves even though there are cars to move their bodies around a lot faster. Why would I stop learning and gathering new skills just because some machine can do it faster than I can?
I use tablesaws to make furniture. I don't get mad or dispirited that they can cut faster than I can.
Yeah, basically this. The article author's premise seems to be that anything challenging is only done for utilitarian purposes (and more narrowly, career-oriented utilitarian purposes), which is obviously not true. Plenty of people run, make furniture, read books, lift weights, write code, etc. as hobbies with no expectation that it will do anything for their career.