I've always felt that charging money for software is dumb.
I, as a programmer, think about saying to other people that they cannot use a piece of software that is already written unless they give me money, is a damn ridiculous idea.
Software is wealth.
If I had a gold coin that had the property that I could give it to you and still have it, and that both coins would increase in value when I did, and that you and I both can repeat the process endlessly, then there is no good reason not to give out the coin copies freely.
One model of a computer is a set of automatic functions that each solve some human problem or need. We should all be working together to expand that library of functions as rapidly as responsibly possible.
Attempting to extract value from the economy per-copy is retarding the whole system. It's a selfish local optimization. My basic argument is that we should use computers and software to globally maximize human happiness and contentment, and avoid local optima.
tl;dr: "Don't be greedy."
So how do you make money? First, if you want a lot of money, open a bank. Let's narrow the question: How do I make a living? House, picket fence, family, doge and qat, gotta have a car, etc... Let's put a ceiling on it, even if it's high. Let's also avoid discussion of financial meta-games, you save and invest, so if you avoid misfortune you're more or less going to be okay, right?
So, how are programmers supposed to make enough money to live the dream if we don't charge per copy?
First of all, the best way to do it since the dawn of the internet is simple: Get 10,000 fans who love you and sell them stuff. (Or just ask them to support you, like the Zig creator is doing.) This is a simple, easy, universally accessible method that's pretty much guaranteed to work.
Second best way: get paid to solve new problems (one thing I am not saying is that you shouldn't charge people to work on a problem you otherwise wouldn't work on, that's fine. Charging people to use your solution after it's been developed is the stupid thing to do, IMO.)
Third(-ish, this list isn't precise nor prescriptive) teach people. I think that learning the Turing Machine trick makes people think better, and learning to program obviously empowers them. (I remember the first time I used an iPad, I thought "this isn't a computer, it's a mall in your hand") The information revolution is still happening, and people need your help to navigate it and reap the full benefits.
Fourth, here's the meta-most: You should be living in a very-low-overhead way right now anyway. We have to learn to live in harmony with Nature or we are about to tank our whole civilization. Go outside, it's June, where are all the bugs?