"Is it due to us simply wanting to reinvent things" After observing myself and a couple of developer friends over the last few years, i can most definitely say

"Is it due to us simply wanting to reinvent things" After observing myself and a couple of developer friends over the last few years, i can most definitely say yes. We are addicted to building our own things, creating layers after layers of abstraction, frameworks, tools, because it makes us feel like we're creating something. What saves some of us, is to have a greater satisfaction seing someone else actually use our things, than creating that thing. And so the goal becomes more "what do people need" rather than "what would i have fun building today".