[dead]
What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
81–90 of 157 posts
Re: What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
#82AI is another step up the ladder of abstraction, another tool like linters, compilers, IDEs, code completion.
Can Claude replace you? Have LLMs altered the software developer productivity equation?
In 1987, Fred Brooks wrote [1]:
"But, as we look to the horizon of a decade hence, we see no silver bullet. There is no single development, in either technology or in management technique, that by itself promises even one order-of-magnitude improvement in productivity, in reliability, in simplicity."
Most companies do not measure software developer productivity. I have never been part of an organization that does.
Will it collapse the economy? The last innovation to collapse the economy was credit default swaps. This says more about the economic systems we have built than technology or progress.
No one knows what is going to happen. But humans are still necessary for every stage of labor, and software developers are still necessary for making software.
[1] https://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/Outreach/pc204/NoSilverBullet.html
Re: What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
#83Focus on "Deep Work" and "Deep Life". Style, quality, and deep knowledge will always be worth a premium.
Re: What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
#84Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you w…
Faith is a fascinating approach here, though it has some flaws. It works on an emotional level if you believe that there is a god that takes care of you as this quote suggests, but if you look for material evidence that there is such a god, there is none to be found. In the medical sciences this usually goes under the name “placebo effect”.
Praise the Omnissiah
Re: What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
#85Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you w…
Faith is a fascinating approach here, though it has some flaws. It works on an emotional level if you believe that there is a god that takes care of you as this quote suggests, but if you look for material evidence that there is such a god, there is none to be found. In the medical sciences this usually goes under the name “placebo effect”.
Material science can't explain how quantities give rise to qualities, or phenomenal consciousness. This is why materialism is bunk - because it doesn't explain much at all. Using it as a litmus test for whether something can or cannot exist is flawed reasoning IME.
Re: What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Faith is a fascinating approach here, though it has some flaws. It works on an emotional level if you believe that there is a god that takes care of you as this quote suggests, but if you look for material evidence that there is such a god, there is none to be found. In the medical sciences this usually goes under the name “placebo effect”.
Material science can't explain how quantities give rise to qualities, or phenomenal consciousness. This is why materialism is bunk - because it doesn't explain much at all. Using it as a litmus test for whether something can or cannot exist is flawed reasoning IME.
All of science depends on materialism. Modern neuroscience strongly suggests that all experience has a material basis. Thus, the hypothesis that whatever “experience” or “qualia” arises from is in fact material seems to be well supported, though not yet conclusive.
Re: What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
#87This too shall pass. Seriously. I've been through too many hype cycles to count. In a few years we will look back on this and see three things: * Both the downsides and upsides were exaggerated * A lot of VCs lost money and many of the trillion dollar buildouts didn't happen * after the hype died down we figured out what AI was actually good for, and what it wasn't.
AI is getting really good at too many things, so this feels very different. I have a claude "skill/program/mega-prompt" for health: https://github.com/nexivibe/md/blob/main/DOCTOR.md I gave it absolutely everything, and praise be to the machine I get the best debate and recommendations I've ever seen. I check what I know to be true, and it's there. I check the logic, and it is sound. I check the medication recommenda…
I did something very similar, but less focused on dialogue and more focused on deep analysis of medical research papers for a specific condition. Like you, I got really outstanding results.
Re: What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think job search is doomscrolling, because all job openings I see ask for mandatory LLM familiarity. This is where the use of a tool goes beyond "just a tool" and becomes just as important as your own knowledge. In fact, if someone were to tell me that a mediocre candidate was chosen over a widely appraised candidate (open source contributions and all) because the former was more familiar with prompting while…
Job listings are not full of doom and dread. If you look at a job listing and all you can think about is doom and anxiety, that’s the doomscrolling in other domains coloring your perception of life. It’s amazing how quickly we forget how this works. Only a few years ago you could doomscroll your way into believing COVID was the end of the world and life would never be the same again.
if you are an LLM skeptic but the job listings list it as LLM-first and a mandatory tool for doing a great job (because we're 10x here, etc.), then it is.
Re: What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
#89I suggest leaning into the joy a little. I know a lot of people - serious, thoughtful people with impressive careers behind them - who are having the time of their lives right now. I've spoken to multiple people who have come out of retirement because the challenges and opportunities of this new space are irresistible to them. All those side project ideas from the past few decades have suddenly become much more feasi…
> serious, thoughtful people with impressive careers behind them
> I've spoken to multiple people who have come out of retirement because the challenges and opportunities of this new space are irresistible to them.
> side project ideas from the past few decades
This joy seems to apply to a lot of people who don't need to worry about silly unimportant things like money anymore.
Re: What are the best coping mechanisms for AI Fatalism?
#90Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you w…
I'll pile on with the Desiderata: https://www.desiderata.com/desiderata.html
"And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."