The human-in-the-loop is tired • Hacker News Board

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#81

Post by JackSlateur » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:18 AM UTC

bluefirebrand wrote: post #68

verdverm wrote: post #38

Should we not get to work less if Ai is increasing productivity so much while also making us exhausted more quickly? Perhaps on the way to UBI and the end of labor, we could get a 32 and 24h work wweek with lots more vacation, my hope at least

Instead of getting 25 hour weeks, half of us will be unemployed permanently and the other half will be working 50 hour weeks. It's a really smart future that the wealthy business owners and investors are building for us.

[..] that the wealthy business owners and investors and all the AI users are building for us.

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#82

Post by misja111 » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:20 AM UTC

I feel the opposite, AI is making me less tired at the end of a working day even though I get much more done.

What used to tire me: being forced to have a sharp eye for syntax errors when programming, or simply the effort of all the typing and navigating through source files. Trying to visualize details of the codebase I was changing, while at the same time keeping a high level picture in my head of the feature I was changing.

With AI, I can focus on the high level picture. I can focus on the steps to get there and the steps to verify that it works. I don't have to focus on syntax anymore and there is much less need to visualize large parts of my code base. With AI, work is still tiring but much less, and in a different way.

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#83

Post by three_burgers » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:25 AM UTC

misja111 wrote: post #82

I feel the opposite, AI is making me less tired at the end of a working day even though I get much more done. What used to tire me: being forced to have a sharp eye for syntax errors when programming, or simply the effort of all the typing and navigating through source files. Trying to visualize details of the codebase I was changing, while at the same time keeping a high level picture in my head of the feature I was…

Sorry but is this a bot comment? (Not replying, asking other readers)

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#84

Post by sashank_1509 » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:27 AM UTC

misja111 wrote: post #82

I feel the opposite, AI is making me less tired at the end of a working day even though I get much more done. What used to tire me: being forced to have a sharp eye for syntax errors when programming, or simply the effort of all the typing and navigating through source files. Trying to visualize details of the codebase I was changing, while at the same time keeping a high level picture in my head of the feature I was…

You were probably just inexperienced in coding. AI has completely bridged that gap. Someone with a 1000 hours coding experience has almost the same speed as someone with 10 hours of experience who gets stuck on syntax like you said.

In return, there is not much of mastery anymore. Being a craftsman is a deeply human desire that AI is destroying, not sure if this is a fun future to look forward to.

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#85

Post by gherkinnn » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:31 AM UTC

Shame. There is something thoughtful in the post, I am sure, but I am so tired of reading Claude that I couldn't get myself to engage.

One could hope that the author is making a meta-point.

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#86

Post by panting » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:32 AM UTC

three_burgers wrote: post #83

misja111 wrote: post #82

I feel the opposite, AI is making me less tired at the end of a working day even though I get much more done. What used to tire me: being forced to have a sharp eye for syntax errors when programming, or simply the effort of all the typing and navigating through source files. Trying to visualize details of the codebase I was changing, while at the same time keeping a high level picture in my head of the feature I was…

Sorry but is this a bot comment? (Not replying, asking other readers)

He might have just used an AI translation tool.

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#87

Post by aeternum » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:33 AM UTC

Pinch to zoom on an early iphone navigating those fixed-width sites worked surprisingly well.

I still prefer it to the responsive pages where stuff moves unpredictably and annoyingly. Before you never had that feeling that the webpage was fighting you.

I sometimes wonder if there is an equivalent loss for this new AI world and one that I've noticed is a kind of sameness that is slowly spreading across the internet.

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#88

Post by misja111 » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:35 AM UTC

sashank_1509 wrote: post #84

misja111 wrote: post #82

I feel the opposite, AI is making me less tired at the end of a working day even though I get much more done. What used to tire me: being forced to have a sharp eye for syntax errors when programming, or simply the effort of all the typing and navigating through source files. Trying to visualize details of the codebase I was changing, while at the same time keeping a high level picture in my head of the feature I was…

You were probably just inexperienced in coding. AI has completely bridged that gap. Someone with a 1000 hours coding experience has almost the same speed as someone with 10 hours of experience who gets stuck on syntax like you said. In return, there is not much of mastery anymore. Being a craftsman is a deeply human desire that AI is destroying, not sure if this is a fun future to look forward to.

Lol, I have 42 years of experience in coding, of which 29 paid. I learned to program when I was 14 years old, studied computer science and went to work in IT. I'm 56 years old now and working as a tech lead.

> Being a craftsman is a deeply human desire that AI is destroying, not sure if this is a fun future to look forward to.

AI is giving me back the feeling I had when I first learned to program, when I was 14. At 14, I suddenly had a tool in my hands that was like an extension of my imagination. I could create tools, games and what not with it, this is what I loved. AI is that same tool on steroids. If what you like is creating things, AI lets you do it at 10 times the speed.

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#89

Post by misja111 » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:36 AM UTC

three_burgers wrote: post #83

misja111 wrote: post #82

I feel the opposite, AI is making me less tired at the end of a working day even though I get much more done. What used to tire me: being forced to have a sharp eye for syntax errors when programming, or simply the effort of all the typing and navigating through source files. Trying to visualize details of the codebase I was changing, while at the same time keeping a high level picture in my head of the feature I was…

Sorry but is this a bot comment? (Not replying, asking other readers)

Lol I guess this is our future, we have to prove that we are not bots. How would I prove this to you?

Re: The human-in-the-loop is tired

#90

Post by bad_username » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 6:54 AM UTC

> Yes the code (sorta) writes itself, but the human reviewing, directing, and course-correcting feels worse, not better.

I noticed the opposite. When reviewing and directing a colleague or subordinate, I spend probably 30% of my brain cycles, and 70% of my activation energy, to weigh the technical merit of my feedback against the human impact it will make: bruised egos, differing architectural convictions, correct and polite tone of comments, additional workload for the colleague. The dread of potentially seeing that the code is not good at all, and needing to decide _what to do in that situatuon_, trading off technical debt in the future vs team dynamics and psychological impact right now.

LLM does not care about any of that. It is so much easier.