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Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

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Re: Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

#151

Post by bigstrat2003 »

tstrimple wrote: post #98
MostlyStable wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are protected in two ways: The first, and by far most important is that unlike ground meat, your bacterial concerns are almost entirely on the surface. Unless something very very very wrong has occurred in the processing and transport chain, bacteria will not have penetrated into the meat. And if it's gotten bad enough that they have, you will almost certainly be able to see and smell it. And the surface is cooke…

Great answer. Just to add, this is with red meat where E. Coli is the main concern. That exists in the gut of the animal and that bacteria can travel to the surface of the muscles during the butchering process. Poultry on the other hand is mainly concerned with Salmonella which does live in the muscles of the animal. That's why people aren't ordering rare chicken breast.

Also, rare chicken breast is apparently pretty unpleasant to eat. Kenji Lopez-Alt did an article where he discussed how you can use sous vide to pasteurize chicken while still keeping it at a low temp, but the result (while perfectly safe to eat) was not enjoyable.

Re: Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

#152

Post by garbageman »

criddell wrote: post #129
wheels wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I'm an avid cook. Sous vide circulators are cheap now, and so are meat thermometers. Doing a steak well is one of the easiest cooking tasks, to the extent that I won't bother paying top dollar in a restaurant because it's so easy to do restaurant quality at home. I could teach someone to cook a restaurant quality steak in a couple hours and a few practice runs.

I've made steak probably 100 times in the past decade (sometimes with a sous vide) and I don't think I've ever made one I would say is great. Certainly not as good as what I can get at a good restaurant. I think what my home steaks are really missing is the crust from salamander broiler. I don't have anything at home that can exceed 1000 F / 550 C.

Salamander broiler would be incredible to have at home. We get decent results from using a cast iron pan thats as hot as we can get it. At most we can sear 2 steaks as it tends to cool off pretty quick even under high heat. Got any better alternatives that a home cook could use?

Re: Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

#154

Post by cogman10 »

jaggederest wrote: post #90
MerrimanInd wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more of a coffee nerd than a steak aficionado but I've often made the comparison between those two. In both cases, the enthusiast considers their skill in making coffee/cooking steak to be a differentiator and they immerse themselves deeply into the process, skills, and tools. But for both coffee beans and steak the most important factor for a good end product is starting with high quality inputs. In other words,…

Coffee is a good metaphor here too, because bad technique can ruin a good steak just as surely as good coffee. "knows how to use a meat thermometer and reverse sear" describes like 10% of the population or less, same with coffee - there are people who use a bad grinder and a not-regularly-cleaned Mr. Coffee with good beans and get gas station coffee, and there are people out there making solidly B+ class coffee using…

Perhaps I'm crazy, but I truly can't taste much of a difference between "good" coffee and "bad" coffee.

I can certainly tell the difference between a good steak and a bad one.

Re: Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

#155

Post by garbageman »

danielmarkbruce wrote: post #93
PaulRobinson wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That "simple process" requires equipment most people don't own or know how to operate, an oil most people don't keep in their cupboards, and is suggested in a book most people haven't heard of by a tech CTO they would not recognise the name of. Honestly this is like the Dropbox comment all over again. Everyone is missing the point, it's glorious. :) Most people cooking steaks don't care about the optimal way to cook…

Corn oil is cheap and available at costco. A sous vide is a fancy french name for a $150 device from target that keeps water at a specific temperature... This "simple process" is much, much simpler than most meals one cooks at home. It's not much harder than microwaving something. You are missing the point. With a small change in the way you do something, the really good thing can be made.

Sous vide are even cheaper now, $30 for a basic one, provided you've got a stock pot or something large enough to set it in.

Re: Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

#156

Post by Brian_K_White »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #45
MostlyStable wrote: post #30

I take the point, but I think the author picked a poor analogy. Cooking even an excellent steak is actually not that hard. In fact, I'd argue that it's among the easiest things to master/make at a top level quality at home. Does it require some modicum of attention and understanding? Sure. But starting with a high quality cut, owning a meat-thermometer, and knowing about reverse searing is about all it takes to relia…

All metaphors break at some point. However, your example actually proves the point. How many people who want a good steak know how to identify a high quality cut? Do they even know where to buy a high quality cut? What the different cuts are and whether they want rump, sirloin or fillet? How many kitchens have a meat thermometer? How many home cooks know how to use it and what the right temperature should be? How man…

This is a whole lot of nothing.

Sure there are a few things that knowledge and skill can do to make a steak better or worse. But the entire range from worst to best is just tiny. The best steak in the world is not a steak moon shot, it's just barely any different from what anyone can do after barely any instruction.

It's a tiny thing to become about as good as it's possible to get.

Re: Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

#157

Post by jaggederest »

cogman10 wrote: post #154
jaggederest wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coffee is a good metaphor here too, because bad technique can ruin a good steak just as surely as good coffee. "knows how to use a meat thermometer and reverse sear" describes like 10% of the population or less, same with coffee - there are people who use a bad grinder and a not-regularly-cleaned Mr. Coffee with good beans and get gas station coffee, and there are people out there making solidly B+ class coffee using…

Perhaps I'm crazy, but I truly can't taste much of a difference between "good" coffee and "bad" coffee. I can certainly tell the difference between a good steak and a bad one.

I thought that too, honestly, before I had truly great coffee. I honestly didn't like coffee at all, and then a coworker brought in some coffee he'd roasted and prepared himself and it was lifechangingly good. I also made myself incredibly sick with the enormous amount of caffeine, it's been very rare that I've had to go home from work in the middle of the day but that was one.

Re: Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

#158

Post by s_dev »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #45
MostlyStable wrote: post #30

I take the point, but I think the author picked a poor analogy. Cooking even an excellent steak is actually not that hard. In fact, I'd argue that it's among the easiest things to master/make at a top level quality at home. Does it require some modicum of attention and understanding? Sure. But starting with a high quality cut, owning a meat-thermometer, and knowing about reverse searing is about all it takes to relia…

All metaphors break at some point. However, your example actually proves the point. How many people who want a good steak know how to identify a high quality cut? Do they even know where to buy a high quality cut? What the different cuts are and whether they want rump, sirloin or fillet? How many kitchens have a meat thermometer? How many home cooks know how to use it and what the right temperature should be? How man…

>All metaphors break at some point.

The map is never the terrain.

All software to an extent is a model map of some real world phenomena. The limitations of which can actually be advantageous, a good example is why games with poor graphics can be so immersive.

Re: Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

#159

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

officeplant wrote: post #150
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No True Scotsman only drives in the city. All True Scotsmen drive across the entire U.S. of A. Waymo has completed 20 MILLION autonomous rides, 6.5m last quarter alone... At what point does it get to say it can self-drive? When there's not a single non-self-driven car left on the road?

>drive across the entire U.S. of A. I'm still working on collecting the drive to all states badge. I've only accomplished half. I calculated my total driving since getting a license recently and its approx. ~360k miles or around 17k miles a year. If Waymo can eventually handle rural life in the US I'd be seriously impressed.

It's not going to for a long time because the cost/benefit isn't there...

Even if Waymo's healthy growth rate continues, it won't make up 5% of the entire US rideshare market until 2030.

That's still several years away from ever even thinking about rural areas.

Re: Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak

#160

Post by givemeethekeys »

jaggederest wrote: post #90
MerrimanInd wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more of a coffee nerd than a steak aficionado but I've often made the comparison between those two. In both cases, the enthusiast considers their skill in making coffee/cooking steak to be a differentiator and they immerse themselves deeply into the process, skills, and tools. But for both coffee beans and steak the most important factor for a good end product is starting with high quality inputs. In other words,…

Coffee is a good metaphor here too, because bad technique can ruin a good steak just as surely as good coffee. "knows how to use a meat thermometer and reverse sear" describes like 10% of the population or less, same with coffee - there are people who use a bad grinder and a not-regularly-cleaned Mr. Coffee with good beans and get gas station coffee, and there are people out there making solidly B+ class coffee using…

I bet the same analogy can be applied to cooking a cucumber.
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