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Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

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Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#191

Post by theendisney »

codebje wrote: post #181
stirfish wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But do you want to drive, or do you want to be wherever you need to be to fuck?

For me personally, the latter, but there's definitely people out there that just love driving. Either way, these silly reductionist games aren't addressing the point: if I just want to get from A to B then I definitely want the absolute minimum of unpredictability in how I do it.

That would ruin the brain placticity.

I wonder now, if everything is always different and suddenly every day would be the same. How many times as terrifying would that be compared to the opposite?

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#192

Post by theendisney »

array_key_first wrote: post #186
sarchertech wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average mechanic won’t do something completely different to your car because you added some extra filler words to your request though. The average user may not care exactly what the mechanic does to fix your car, but they do expect things to be repeatable. If car repair LLMs function anything like coding LLMs, one request could result in an oil change, while a similar request could end up with an engine replaceme…

Mechanics, and humans, are non-deterministic. Every mechanic works differently, because they have different bodies and minds. LLMs are, of course, bad. Or not good enough, at least. But suppose they are. Suppose they're perfect. Would I rather use an app or just directly interface with an LLM? The LLM might be quicker and easier. I know, for example, ordering takeout is much faster if I just call and speak to a perso…

Old people sometimes call rather than order on the website. They never fail to come up with a query that no amount of hardcoded logic could begin to attack.

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#193

Post by hyperadvanced »

mikodin wrote: post #180
113 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but in this case your car is non-deterministic so

Well the need is to arrive where you are going. If we were in an imagined world and you are headed to work You either walk out your door and there is a self driving car, or you walk out of your door and there is a train waiting for you or you walk out of your door and there is a helicopter or you walk out of your door and there is a literal worm hole. Let's say all take the same amount of time, are equally safe, same…

I think it’s pretty obvious but most people would prefer a regular schedule not a random and potentially psychologically jarring transportation event to start the day.

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#195

Post by whilenot-dev »

theendisney wrote: post #191
codebje wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me personally, the latter, but there's definitely people out there that just love driving. Either way, these silly reductionist games aren't addressing the point: if I just want to get from A to B then I definitely want the absolute minimum of unpredictability in how I do it.

That would ruin the brain placticity. I wonder now, if everything is always different and suddenly every day would be the same. How many times as terrifying would that be compared to the opposite?

A form of Alexei Yurchak's hypernormalisation?

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#196

Post by bfkwlfkjf »

ozim wrote: post #117
113 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because nobody actually wants a "web app". People want food, love, sex or: solutions. Okay but when I start my car I want to drive it, not fuck it.

I feel like this is the point where we start to make jokes about Honda owners.

Go on, what about honda owners? I don't know the meme.

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#197

Post by hyperadvanced »

AmbroseBierce wrote: post #82
d-lisp wrote: post #54

Why would you need webapps when you could just talk out loud to your computer ? Why would I need programs with colors, buttons, actual UI ? I am trying to imagine a future where file navigators don't even exist : "I want to see the photos I took while I was in vacations last year. Yes, can you remove that cloud ? Perfect, now send it to XXXX's computer and say something nice." "Can you set some timers for my sport se…

>Can you set some timers for my sport session, can you plan a pure body weight session ? Yes, that's perfect. Wait, actually, remove the jumping jacks." Better yet, why exercise -which is so repetitive- if we can create a machine that just does it for you, including the dopamine triggering, why play an arcade video game where we can create a machine that fires the neuron needed to produce the exact same level of a ex…

Zizek is a good reference here. What’s the word for it, interpassivity?

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#198

Post by hyperadvanced »

feifan wrote: post #166
DanHulton wrote: post #165

You can build this today exactly as efficiently as you can when inference is 1000x faster, because the only things you can build with this is things that absolutely don't matter. The first bored high schooler who realizes that there's an LLM between them and the database is going to WRECK you.

this assumes the application is hosted as SaaS, but if the application makes sense as a personal/"desktop" app, that likely wouldn't matter.

It’s actually extremely motivating to consider what LLM or similar AI agent could do for us if we were to free our minds from 2 decades of SaaS brainrot.

What if we ran AI locally and used it to actually do labor-intensive things with computers that make money rather than assuming everything were web-connected, paywalled, rate-limited, authenticated, tracked, and resold?

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#199

Post by runarberg »

ethmarks wrote: post #169
sramam wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in enterprise IT and sometimes wonder if we should add the equivalent energy calculations of human effort - both productive and unproductive - that underlies these "output/cost" comparisons. I realize it sounds inhuman, but so is working in enterprise IT! :)

I agree wholeheartedly. It irks me when people critique automation because it uses large amounts of resources. Running a machine or a computer almost always uses far less resources than a human would to do the same task, so long as you consider the entire resource consumptions. Growing the food that a human eats, running the air conditioning for their home, powering their lights, fueling their car, charging their pho…

I suspect you may be either underestimating how efficient our brains are at computing or severely underestimating how much energy these AI models take to train and run.

Even including our system of comfort like refrigerated blueberries in January and AC cooling a 40° C heat down to 25° C (but excluding car commutes, because please work from home or take public transit) the human is still far far more energy efficient in e.g. playing go then alpha-go. With LLMs this isn’t even close (and we can probably factor in that stupid car commute, because LLMs are just that inefficient).

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