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How to write stuff no one else can

thewritetoroam.com

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Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#41

Post by cycomanic »

wordpad25 wrote: post #11
ssivark wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, etc are all retrieval services (with some rudimentary remixing capabilities thrown in, for the latter few). Some human has to actually have interesting insights and write them. Retrieval services help with distribution & discovery. The less we’re connected, the harder it is to find the right audience who value your (niche) insights. Of course attribution and linking is important.

AI so much much more than retrieval since it knows how to correctly apply exist concepts to previously unexplored areas. You can ask ChatGPT how one might implement and enforce laws in a world where magic exists. Or time travel. Or whatever. Because it knows laws and it knows common fiction tropes and can reason well enough to surmise how to apply them together.

Well in my experience it more knows how to incorrectly apply existing concepts to incompatible areas and exert great confidence while doing it.

I have just two recent examples where I thought it would be faster to use chatgpt instead of reading the manual.

1. How to asynchronously (e.g. asyncio) record from the microphone in python. Chatgpt gave me good which looked elegant, but didn't work. Well turns out pyaudio isn't compatible with asyncio.

2. Trying to install a docker of some server (I think it was wallabag?) with an SSO using openid. Again I got a elaborate docker compose file and instructions for the server configuration. After trying to implement it for a while I realised that those configuration options don't exist. Chatgpt just invented them.

My conclusion from these is that one really shouldn't ask AI question were one already knows the answer/correct way and you just want to have something create the boilerplate. I shudder and the thought that people are proposing to use AI for medical purposes without supervision by a professional.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#42

Post by tzs »

cycomanic wrote: post #41
wordpad25 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI so much much more than retrieval since it knows how to correctly apply exist concepts to previously unexplored areas. You can ask ChatGPT how one might implement and enforce laws in a world where magic exists. Or time travel. Or whatever. Because it knows laws and it knows common fiction tropes and can reason well enough to surmise how to apply them together.

Well in my experience it more knows how to incorrectly apply existing concepts to incompatible areas and exert great confidence while doing it. I have just two recent examples where I thought it would be faster to use chatgpt instead of reading the manual. 1. How to asynchronously (e.g. asyncio) record from the microphone in python. Chatgpt gave me good which looked elegant, but didn't work. Well turns out pyaudio is…

I've seen similar, although in my cases the wrong answers turned out the be useful. They used commands or functions or APIs that I had not known about, and when I looked into those found that they could solve my problem when used correctly.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#43

Post by leetrout »

I have a quip I have repeated for years that aligns with this:

The people talking about the stuff largely arent the people doing the stuff because theyre too busy doing the stuff.

Where, in my case, in our tech circle, that is generally design and development. Of course there are outliers.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#44

Post by austin-cheney »

The article misses something super critical: why?. More specifically why a key few hires can change the trajectory of a company. The answer almost always comes down to one word and applies companies of any size: leadership.

Leadership is a concept largely foreign to the software industry for two reasons.

* Most software developers are never exposed to strong personalities and have no idea what strong leadership looks like. An excellent software developer tends to score high in agreeability, but a strong leader knows how to turn that down to 0 for maximum confrontation and/or defiance.

* Strong leaders know when to not follow trends with extreme criticality. This is highly paradoxical since so many software companies are funded by advertising which is a business of growing trends. Real leaders set new trends and take share from existing players setting their brand reputation in the process. Most people in software are deathly afraid to abandon conventions of comfort whether in business or in product/process innovation.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#45

Post by Aurornis »

austin-cheney wrote: post #44

The article misses something super critical: why? . More specifically why a key few hires can change the trajectory of a company. The answer almost always comes down to one word and applies companies of any size: leadership . Leadership is a concept largely foreign to the software industry for two reasons. * Most software developers are never exposed to strong personalities and have no idea what strong leadership loo…

> Leadership is a concept largely foreign to the software industry

Maybe in the companies you’ve worked for, but I haven’t found this to be true at all

> An excellent software developer tends to score high in agreeability, but a strong leader knows how to turn that down to 0 for maximum confrontation and/or defiance

Hard disagree. “Maximum confrontation and/or defiance” has never been a goal of good leaders who are trying to build a team that works together.

Encouraging people to speak their mind is good. Encouraging “maximum confrontation” is just going to create chaos. The goal is to work together to ship, not to argue and defy all the time. I can’t think of anyone who would want to work on a team where everyone had agreeableness dialed down to 0 where leaders encouraged confrontation all the time, except maybe for people who just like to argue a lot.

> Most people in software are deathly afraid to abandon conventions of comfort whether in business or in product/process innovation.

Another strong generalization that I can’t agree with. Most people I’ve worked with in software have been so aggressive about bucking trends and trying new things that we’ve had to dial it back a notch. A lot of the debates I’ve had with teams have been about choosing boring, stable technologies over the newest cutting edge technology that’s popular on Twitter. Same goes for business strategies, where I’ve had to deal with everyone from product managers to sales people trying to do things their own creative way when the standard, boring practices are what finally got the job done.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#46

Post by austin-cheney »

Aurornis wrote: post #45
austin-cheney wrote: post #44

The article misses something super critical: why? . More specifically why a key few hires can change the trajectory of a company. The answer almost always comes down to one word and applies companies of any size: leadership . Leadership is a concept largely foreign to the software industry for two reasons. * Most software developers are never exposed to strong personalities and have no idea what strong leadership loo…

> Leadership is a concept largely foreign to the software industry Maybe in the companies you’ve worked for, but I haven’t found this to be true at all > An excellent software developer tends to score high in agreeability, but a strong leader knows how to turn that down to 0 for maximum confrontation and/or defiance Hard disagree. “Maximum confrontation and/or defiance” has never been a goal of good leaders who are t…

Leaders do more than build teams. Team building is inward looking. Real leaders are outward looking and have to be willing to defend their team(s) at personal cost.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#47

Post by Sai_ »

austin-cheney wrote: post #44

The article misses something super critical: why? . More specifically why a key few hires can change the trajectory of a company. The answer almost always comes down to one word and applies companies of any size: leadership . Leadership is a concept largely foreign to the software industry for two reasons. * Most software developers are never exposed to strong personalities and have no idea what strong leadership loo…

You may have missed the point of this article. Here, we’re being exposed to the “how”. Then why is unrelated to the why. If you have a why, the is the how to follow.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#49

Post by willsmith72 »

austin-cheney wrote: post #44

The article misses something super critical: why? . More specifically why a key few hires can change the trajectory of a company. The answer almost always comes down to one word and applies companies of any size: leadership . Leadership is a concept largely foreign to the software industry for two reasons. * Most software developers are never exposed to strong personalities and have no idea what strong leadership loo…

what you call the "software industry" aligns with my experience in the "enterprise software industry"

outside of that, it couldn't be further from my experience. many many defiant and confrontational founders/PMs, who often actively avoid the accepted "best practice" and rethink what they're doing if they find themselves in the majority

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