Live data from Hacker News

AI should elevate your thinking, not replace it

koshyjohn.com

511–520 of 656 posts

Re: AI should elevate your thinking, not replace it

#511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans don’t tend towards idle quiescence. We seem to be insatiable inquisitive. Curiosity doth struggle many cats.

Being inquisitive doesn't equate to loving, or needing, struggle in my brain. Also, struggle differs for many people. Running a half marathon was a struggle for me, but I can't compare it to a family who is struggling to pay bills. If we take Maslows hierarchy of needs, me running a half marathon is self actualization. Something I'm privileged to be able to do. A family struggling to put food on the table is still on…

Yes, I tend to agree.

Re: AI should elevate your thinking, not replace it

#513
post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont understand why software engineers insist on keeping the craftsmanship aspect of writing code. Compare to other engineering disciplines, like civil engineering. Engineering was never about going in the field yourself to build things with your own hands. You can become a great civil engineer without building bridges that fail yourself. To me it doesn’t matter that the thing I design is built with a crane or AI.…

There's a false equivalency between software engineering and civil engineering here, in my opinion. I would argue that the craftsmanship SWEs see in their work stems from a necessity to be novel in order to truly make something worth putting out into the market. "Oh, you're making an app that tracks heartrate/makes music/provides driving directions? Why wouldn't the user just use ?" There's no real merit to making cl…

> I would argue that the craftsmanship SWEs see in their work stems from a necessity to be novel in order to truly make something worth putting out into the market. ... There's no real merit to making clones, whereas in civil engineering (I would argue) this is the bread and butter. You can't copy and paste a bridge. There's a physicality to it that says "okay, make another bridge similar to this but now for that gap", so the challenge becomes making the necessary repetition more efficient, and it's "fine" if no one is going out of their way to be an "artisanal civil engineer".

This is a key insight that invalidates a lot of the manufacturing thought that infects software development. Manufacturing (in large part) is about making copies, better and cheaper. But with software, you can create perfect copies for free. A "software factory" makes no sense, there's a fundamental paradigm mismatch.

Re: AI should elevate your thinking, not replace it

#514
post #446

I feel like these articles are just a reasurance for people who don't want to accept that AI will automate their jobs. It becomes easier to focus on a lesser group of AI users and feel superior than to confront the reality of things.

So, how many jobs were automated by AI? Or is that "in six to eight months"?

130000 so far https://jobloss.ai/

Re: AI should elevate your thinking, not replace it

#515
post #383
post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Automation is also for reducing drudgery - the work that prevents us from meaningful struggle by taking up resources that can be better applied elsewhere. Not all struggle (or pain) is created equal.

I wouldn’t count on reduced drudgery. The assembly line automated many movements needed for manufacturing. But which work involved more drudgery—-craftsman-style car production or standing on an assembly line at Ford? With any new technology, subsequent drudgery depends on the technology, its concomitant economics, and the imagination of the people using it.

The craftsman didn't move to the assembly line.

Re: AI should elevate your thinking, not replace it

#517

This is what happens when the people building your society's advanced technology have no theory of mind. Too much science fiction, not enough human interaction. The Social Network is looking more and more prophetic. When your only ambition is success for its own sake, driven by insecurities you can never name, you're going to make things that don't actually serve other people, or only do as an unfortunate side effect…

Hmm? There are a number of top AI people who make this exact point, though, and are trying to drive things toward elevating thinking. There's more that can be done, but quite a bit is a user mindset issue that's just going to have to shake out over time.

Re: AI should elevate your thinking, not replace it

#518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain why? I'm getting better at detecting some kinds of AI writing, but I constantly seem comments like this on HN for things I'm much less suspicious of, and I want to understand why people make them.

See my comment in this thread for what jumped out the most to me.

Can you link to it? Your comment history does not show such a comment.

Re: AI should elevate your thinking, not replace it

#519
> and spend more time on the parts of the job that actually matter i.e. framing problems, making tradeoffs, spotting risks, creating clarity, and producing original insight.

What makes you think AI won't do those parts of the job? Either AI stops improving, or it will replace thinking.

Post reply on HN