Not sure what throwing coal in a furnace has to do with the mental exertion required to be a programmer, but maybe the point of being persistent makes sense.
Indeed. Not to mention that no one has been doing that for a very long time. That's not what coal miners, nor has it ever been what coal miners do.
A guy who shovels coal into a furnace was called a "stoker", and that unskilled labor job was automated out of existence about a hundred years ago.
A coal miner is a skilled laborer who (nowadays) uses advanced machinery and technology. Look into how "longwall mining" works. It's pretty cool.
I assure you, human beings are not mere cogs. The sooner you divorce yourself from the notion, the better off you and any employees will be.
IMHO programming is even more specialized than most jobs, it requires constant learning to maintain a productive ability. Eg. Before 2013 how many people were doing react native programming? How many people are writing Pascal code today?
BTW does anyone really believe Joe Biden is an athority on coding? He probably thinks a coder is a guy sending messages by tapping a CW Keyer!