Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Love the Computer

michaelenger.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 167 posts

Re: I Love the Computer

#21

Post by mid-kid »

fasterik wrote: post #2

I love computers too, but it doesn't resonate with me when people call AI "snake oil." The comparison suggests that the thing doesn't do what it's marketed to do. AI does more or less what it's marketed to do, sometimes badly. I still write code by hand. But LLMs have been a legitimately useful tool when I've wanted to dig into a new field like computer graphics, theoretical physics, or numerical analysis. Or even ju…

The snake oil is how the people at the top scream "in x years we won't need programmers" and end up proving themselves wrong time and time again. It's a real technology and it can do a lot, but it's being sold like snake oil while we're still figuring out what it's actually useful for and how to leverage it properly.

Re: I Love the Computer

#22

Post by tptacek »

specproc wrote: post #16
fasterik wrote: post #2

I love computers too, but it doesn't resonate with me when people call AI "snake oil." The comparison suggests that the thing doesn't do what it's marketed to do. AI does more or less what it's marketed to do, sometimes badly. I still write code by hand. But LLMs have been a legitimately useful tool when I've wanted to dig into a new field like computer graphics, theoretical physics, or numerical analysis. Or even ju…

AI is snake oil. It sells you a slot machine in the guise of a colleague. Oh, not using it right? Not the right model? Insert coin to continue. Snake oil, total snake oil.

This doesn't even make sense. Maybe if you fleshed it out?

Re: I Love the Computer

#23

Post by tptacek »

mid-kid wrote: post #21
fasterik wrote: post #2

I love computers too, but it doesn't resonate with me when people call AI "snake oil." The comparison suggests that the thing doesn't do what it's marketed to do. AI does more or less what it's marketed to do, sometimes badly. I still write code by hand. But LLMs have been a legitimately useful tool when I've wanted to dig into a new field like computer graphics, theoretical physics, or numerical analysis. Or even ju…

The snake oil is how the people at the top scream "in x years we won't need programmers" and end up proving themselves wrong time and time again. It's a real technology and it can do a lot, but it's being sold like snake oil while we're still figuring out what it's actually useful for and how to leverage it properly.

Snake oil implies that it does nothing, not that it doesn't do everything it's boosters claim it does. Snake oils were medicines sold as cure-alls with no active ingredients.

Re: I Love the Computer

#24

Post by specproc »

holoduke wrote: post #19
specproc wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI is snake oil. It sells you a slot machine in the guise of a colleague. Oh, not using it right? Not the right model? Insert coin to continue. Snake oil, total snake oil.

I just reversed engineered large parts of my 2011 car odb comms. Was able to hook a stm32 board to the car communication and have full control over a lot of stuff so that I can build my own instrument cluster from a lcd screen. It literally took me one evening to get the first proof of concept working. I never touched stm32 stuff before.

Good for you, son. I've just spent the whole f*king day screaming at an agent on a deadline.

Re: I Love the Computer

#25

Post by overgard »

fasterik wrote: post #2

I love computers too, but it doesn't resonate with me when people call AI "snake oil." The comparison suggests that the thing doesn't do what it's marketed to do. AI does more or less what it's marketed to do, sometimes badly. I still write code by hand. But LLMs have been a legitimately useful tool when I've wanted to dig into a new field like computer graphics, theoretical physics, or numerical analysis. Or even ju…

Isn't coding solved and we should all be out of a job by now according to Dario? Or what about AI 2027 -- we're only 6 months away! Time to build a bunker!! LLMs themselves aren't snake oil, they're just a useful technology, but all the marketing around them is FUD mixed with hype mixed with the most irritating people on the planet (the ones that aren't bots at least).

Re: I Love the Computer

#26

Post by thewebguyd »

Shellban wrote: post #11
fasterik wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My prediction is that it will go the same way as the dot com bubble. The hypesters and fraudsters will eventually collide with objective reality, but the technology will persist and society at large will benefit from the infrastructure and the increased access to knowledge.

Assuming that we recover from the damage being done now. As one example, a friend of mine has remarked that large corporations will benefit from the current AI-induced reality of no one being able to afford their own hardware, and keep prices that way to enforce a renters model on computers.

That's my fear, and unfortunately I think its likely to happen. I feel like we will settle down a little bit, but into a new higher "normal" baseline that still largely makes it unaffordable for most.

There's also still the risk of the creation of a new economic underclass, if both a) hardware remains too expensive for local inference and b) subscription or pay-per-token based inference also remains expensive or increases in price, then individuals will largely be locked out of the benefits that having access to AI could bring, leaving it purely in the hands of larger companies. People will only get to use and experience these tools through their employer, for the benefit of their employer.

Re: I Love the Computer

#27

Post by specproc »

tptacek wrote: post #22
specproc wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI is snake oil. It sells you a slot machine in the guise of a colleague. Oh, not using it right? Not the right model? Insert coin to continue. Snake oil, total snake oil.

This doesn't even make sense. Maybe if you fleshed it out?

Snake oil is something not medicine sold as medicine.

AI is something not a colleague (a slot machine), sold as a colleague.

Re: I Love the Computer

#28

Post by anon7725 »

echelon wrote: post #18
Shellban wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming that we recover from the damage being done now. As one example, a friend of mine has remarked that large corporations will benefit from the current AI-induced reality of no one being able to afford their own hardware, and keep prices that way to enforce a renters model on computers.

> As one example, a friend of mine has remarked that large corporations will benefit from the current AI-induced reality of no one being able to afford their own hardware, and keep prices that way to enforce a renters model on computers. Choose one: - You spend 30 hours writing a program to manage data for your hobby. You write it on your personal computer. - You spend one hour generating a program to manage data for…

I choose A.

I know that many others choose A as well.

A wonderful service known as the web has connected people who choose A with others who choose A and of course with a great many who don’t need to make a choice and benefit from the work of others.

I mourn a world in which few will choose A, because for many to choose B seems to lock us all, tragedy of the commons style, into a worse world.

Re: I Love the Computer

#29

Post by tptacek »

specproc wrote: post #27
tptacek wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't even make sense. Maybe if you fleshed it out?

Snake oil is something not medicine sold as medicine. AI is something not a colleague (a slot machine), sold as a colleague.

Right, that's what you already said. What I don't understand is the "slot machine" analogy you're making. In what sense is AI a "slot machine"? Are you talking about the stocks of AI companies?

Re: I Love the Computer

#30

Post by echelon »

anon7725 wrote: post #28
echelon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As one example, a friend of mine has remarked that large corporations will benefit from the current AI-induced reality of no one being able to afford their own hardware, and keep prices that way to enforce a renters model on computers. Choose one: - You spend 30 hours writing a program to manage data for your hobby. You write it on your personal computer. - You spend one hour generating a program to manage data for…

I choose A. I know that many others choose A as well. A wonderful service known as the web has connected people who choose A with others who choose A and of course with a great many who don’t need to make a choice and benefit from the work of others. I mourn a world in which few will choose A, because for many to choose B seems to lock us all, tragedy of the commons style, into a worse world.

[flagged]
Post reply on HN