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Punch yourself in the face with reality

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Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#11

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

I have found that it gets some of the "cruft" out of the work, freeing me to do more work.

Since starting to use LLMs, I have actually been spending more time, at the console, than before.

One reason is that I like to ship (as opposed to "code"). That means a lot of tedious, boring stuff. The kind of thing that I want to "take a break before tackling," so I may take 30 minutes, and watch something on TV for a while, before rolling up my sleeves.

Now, the LLM can take care of a lot of this stuff, so I am not motivated to "take a break," so much, anymore.

It doesn't actually feel bad, but I now have to schedule "downtime." I never used to have to do that, before. My work always involved a lot of "context switch" points; naturally set up for taking breaks.

Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#12

Post by AdityaAnand1 »

sorokod wrote: post #2

This quote from Philip K Dick seems relevant: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Love it.

And something I wish the current crop of AI startups learn as well, just making XYZ agentic maybe isn't the answer to everything.

Same folks that said crypto will destroy traditional finance are now saying stuff like, AI will "destroy" all jobs and create a permanent underclass. Almost feels like every few years a new cult gets created with messaging perfectly designed to trigger the Gen-Z(/current college generation) into a frenzy and drinking the kool-aid.

Can't wait for it to be over (and then to do it all over again with something else). Being in my 30s helps. I care less :)

Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#13

Post by fragmede »

AdityaAnand1 wrote: post #12
sorokod wrote: post #2

This quote from Philip K Dick seems relevant: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Love it. And something I wish the current crop of AI startups learn as well, just making XYZ agentic maybe isn't the answer to everything. Same folks that said crypto will destroy traditional finance are now saying stuff like, AI will "destroy" all jobs and create a permanent underclass. Almost feels like every few years a new cult gets created with messaging perfectly designed to trigger the Gen-Z(/current college g…

Yeah. In the 90's it was outsourcing is going to move all software jobs to India. Turns out that did happen, but also not. Still, manufacturing jobs have actually left the USA.

Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#14

Post by AdityaAnand1 »

fragmede wrote: post #13
AdityaAnand1 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love it. And something I wish the current crop of AI startups learn as well, just making XYZ agentic maybe isn't the answer to everything. Same folks that said crypto will destroy traditional finance are now saying stuff like, AI will "destroy" all jobs and create a permanent underclass. Almost feels like every few years a new cult gets created with messaging perfectly designed to trigger the Gen-Z(/current college g…

Yeah. In the 90's it was outsourcing is going to move all software jobs to India. Turns out that did happen, but also not. Still, manufacturing jobs have actually left the USA.

I think there is something parasitic in both legacy media and actually even worse in new media - where it finds the most toxic, negative idea that can latch on to the minds of the masses and runs away with it.

Maybe "things going bad suddenly in the near future" is just such a captivating idea to the human mind that those narratives will always find a way to dominate vs "everything will continue to slowly get better".

Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#15

Post by lo_zamoyski »

card_zero wrote: post #3

"Being honest with themselves about whether what they are doing is actually working or not" and "Having the courage to go on when nobody believes in you" are opposites.

Not really. You can be honest about something working and others can disagree with your assessment.

Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#16

Post by totetsu »

sorokod wrote: post #2

This quote from Philip K Dick seems relevant: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

It’s a nice quote. But what about the notion that we’re always believing in something, and sometimes those beliefs tune closer to something objective but if we keep tuning past that into something else, then that reality becomes hard to conceive of and really does seem like it’s gone away.

Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#17

Post by ozim »

totetsu wrote: post #16
sorokod wrote: post #2

This quote from Philip K Dick seems relevant: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

It’s a nice quote. But what about the notion that we’re always believing in something, and sometimes those beliefs tune closer to something objective but if we keep tuning past that into something else, then that reality becomes hard to conceive of and really does seem like it’s gone away.

When you break a leg you can’t start believing it is all good. It doesn’t go away.

As much as you would have aspirations to be a pro soccer player, badly enough broken leg can prevent you from ever being good enough.

Your imagination of being pro player does go away when in reality you’re not fit for the purpose.

Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#18

Post by lstodd »

totetsu wrote: post #16
sorokod wrote: post #2

This quote from Philip K Dick seems relevant: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

It’s a nice quote. But what about the notion that we’re always believing in something, and sometimes those beliefs tune closer to something objective but if we keep tuning past that into something else, then that reality becomes hard to conceive of and really does seem like it’s gone away.

There isn't an exact quote from Douglas Adams, you have to read it all, but he put the point marvelously: reality is scary, unlimited and lovecraftesque, and we have filters to avoid that. Only when you master those filters you can consider yourself conscious.

Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#19

Post by randusername »

> And I think that’s the biggest danger of AI. You convince yourself that you are doing something useful when you are not.

Building technology to overcome relatable hardships and frictions is a worthy challenge full of meaning.

Using someone else's technology to erase frictions and hardships from your life can erode meaning.

On my worst days I am convinced programming and technological optimism is a theft of meaning; personal satisfaction at solving a human problem awkwardly mapped to technology, at the expense of users dating, socializing, or consuming with discomfort and therefore the possibility of growth and meaning.

Re: Punch yourself in the face with reality

#20

Post by throwawayffffas »

totetsu wrote: post #16
sorokod wrote: post #2

This quote from Philip K Dick seems relevant: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

It’s a nice quote. But what about the notion that we’re always believing in something, and sometimes those beliefs tune closer to something objective but if we keep tuning past that into something else, then that reality becomes hard to conceive of and really does seem like it’s gone away.

No matter how much you don't believe there is a tiger behind the bush. The tiger really believes you are going to be tasty.
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