One slightly unexpected side effect of using AI to do most of my coding now is that I find myself a lot less tired and can focus for longer periods. It's enabled me to get work done while faced with other distractions. Essentially, offload some mental capacity towards AI frees up capacity elsewhere.
I like to think of AI as cars: You can go to the Walmart outside town on foot. And carry your stuff back. But it is much faster - and less exhaustive - to use the car. Which means you can spend more quality time on things you enjoy.
Frankly, working with an LLM has forced me to explain my problems in a more articulate and precise manner, avoiding unnecessary information that could interfere with a proper framing of the issue.
It is said that one doesn’t truly understand something unless they can explain it concisely.
I think being forced to do so, is an upside to using LLMs
Wasn't THE SAME said when Google came out? That we were not remembering things anymore and we were relying on Google? And also with cellphones before that (even the big dummy brickphones), that we were not remembering phone numbers anymore.
Yes but your cell phone contacts don't have a chance to call a completely different number out of thin air once in a while. At least for now, while Apple and Google haven't put "AI" in the contacts list. Can't guarantee tomorrow.
That would actually be an amazing feature. Like in those movie meet-cutes where the person you were supposed to meet doesn't show up, and instead you make a connection with a random person.
Yes. Because none of this bullshit matters. I’ve heard this mantra for 20 years now. Smug face: “weeeell, how can you say you’re a real programmer if you use a compiler? You need write raw assembly”, “how can you call yourself reeeeal programmer if you don’t know your computer down to every register?”, “real programmurs do not use SO/Google” and all the rest of the crap. It is all nerds trying to make themselves feel…
Common bullshit. Expert not realizing that even if they are capable of using these tools because they can - subconsciously in your case - verify them, it doesn't mean it helps non experts.
Touché.
On this I agree with you, since I’ve started in different age.
You got it backwards, there wouldn't be a walmart outside of town if there were no cars, you'd walk to the local butcher/baker/whatever in <10min.
Where you’d be able to afford much less (not judging the trade-off, but that’s the primary reason why the US is headed in the opposite direction).
I thought the US went into the opposite direction because of ruthless corporate profit optimization, zoning rules and city planning that fuels suburban sprawl?
Economies of scale do mean you can get a fluffy blanket imported from China at $5, less than the cost of a coffee at Starbucks, but for food necessities Walmart isn’t even that cheap or abundant compared to other chains.
I like to think of AI as cars: You can go to the Walmart outside town on foot. And carry your stuff back. But it is much faster - and less exhaustive - to use the car. Which means you can spend more quality time on things you enjoy.
At the price of a sluggish, atrophied body.
That’s why we need an AI infrastructure like amsterdam, where you can bike everywhere. It’s faster and more convenient than a car for most trips and keeps everyone fit and happy.
There are detriments to this as well. Exercise is good. Being outside is good. New experiences happen when you're on foot. You see more things on foot. Etc etc. We make our lives way too efficient and we atrophy basic skills. There are benefits to doing things manually. Hustle culture is quite bad for us. Going by foot or bicycle is so healthy for us for a myriad of reasons.
While this is absolutely true, “walking to Walmart” is a terrible example due to the lack of pedestrian infrastructure and distances involved :)
It is actually a great example. If the only way to go to Walmart is by car, it’s a sign of bigger problems with urban planning. Car is a hotfix, that becomes an environmental and public health problem. We shouldn’t try to get rid of cars or individual homes, but there exist plenty of other, more healthier ways of living (and the most livable cities in the world focus on them, not on car-powered suburbia). Same with AI: if it becomes the only way for people to achieve result, it may point not to complexity necessitating the use of an advanced tool, but to problems with education, developer experience etc. AI becomes a hotfix for things that could be fixed with more traditional approaches and in more sustainable way.
Socrates: "And now, since you are the father of writing, your affection for it has made you describe its effects as the opposite of what they really are. In fact, it will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice using their memory because they will put their trust in writing, which is external and depends on signs that belong to others, instead of trying to remember from the…
> You have not discovered a potion for remembering, but for reminding;
Tell me you don't have ADHD without telling me you don't have ADHD (or even knowing what ADHD is, yet) ;)
You got it backwards, there wouldn't be a walmart outside of town if there were no cars, you'd walk to the local butcher/baker/whatever in <10min.
Where you’d be able to afford much less (not judging the trade-off, but that’s the primary reason why the US is headed in the opposite direction).
> Where you’d be able to afford much less
When 75% of the west is overweight or obese, and when the leading causes of death are quite literally sloth and gluttony I think I'd take my chances... We're drown in insane quantity of low quality food and gadgets