Taste Is All That's Left • Hacker News Board

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#321

Post by polotics » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:50 AM UTC

account42 wrote: post #311

agentultra wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The market logic isn’t going to be defensible. The market is highly irrational and prone to be influenced by those with the most capital, not the, “invisible hand.” Cars are freaking everywhere not because they are the best solution of transportation but because people with vested interest in the sale of oil and cars made it so by buying politicians, starting political and marketing campaigns, and on for generations.…

Cars are actually the best solution to transportation once you stop ignoring inconvenient but real requirements like autonomy and isolation.

Cars are not a system.

You need roads, traffic lights, drivers and pedestrians that respect rules, not too many holy cows in the way, not too much CO2 in your quasi-self-sustaining spaceship, lungs and livers that can deal with the soot, a tolerance for high-velocity impacts risks, not too many other cars around, ...

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#322

Post by p0nce » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:51 AM UTC

DiscourseFan wrote: post #25

I keep seeing people trying to define judgement and taste and then they don’t actually like cite Kant’s Critique of Judgement where this is basically the entire concern.

Nor the work of sociologists like Bourdieu's Distinction.

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#323

Post by Madmallard » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:54 AM UTC

nazgu1 wrote: post #310

I have mixed feelings... I stumbled upon, read a post-mortem that looks even more AI-generated than the article. "That says something about my writing. It says nothing about who wrote it." - Two contradicting sentences, author's writing skills are part of the author as-a-whole "The short sentences, the reversals, the one-word lines" and then "I will write the next one plainer.". - even more? And... I wonder if this i…

Engagement farming has found its way to Hacker News.

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#324

Post by innocentoldguy » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:56 AM UTC

nazgu1 wrote: post #310

I have mixed feelings... I stumbled upon, read a post-mortem that looks even more AI-generated than the article. "That says something about my writing. It says nothing about who wrote it." - Two contradicting sentences, author's writing skills are part of the author as-a-whole "The short sentences, the reversals, the one-word lines" and then "I will write the next one plainer.". - even more? And... I wonder if this i…

I'm a writer with what may be an unpopular opinion. I have a college degree in creative writing; I do technical writing and programming for a living, and I used to publish technical articles on Linux, Python, Elixir, and other topics—complete with em dashes—long before AI was a thing.

When confronting AI as a writer and deciding how I feel about it, I've landed on the conclusion that I've never accused mathematicians of churning out "calculator slop." A calculator is just a tool to make the complex work of mathematics easier. I now view AI as a calculator for writing, among other things. If the idea is good and the information is sound, I don't let the occasional awkward phrasing bother me. The truth is, most people can't write very well anyway, so if AI helps them communicate better—even if it is obviously generated by AI— more power to them.

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#325

Post by darkwater » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:56 AM UTC

nazgu1 wrote: post #310

I have mixed feelings... I stumbled upon, read a post-mortem that looks even more AI-generated than the article. "That says something about my writing. It says nothing about who wrote it." - Two contradicting sentences, author's writing skills are part of the author as-a-whole "The short sentences, the reversals, the one-word lines" and then "I will write the next one plainer.". - even more? And... I wonder if this i…

I really don't know, their GH profile [1] and their projects, even the recent ones [2], seem pretty non-LLM. IMO the post-mortem is more a satirical response to the HN criticism, doubling down on the "AI slop" writing style.

[1] https://github.com/NotAShelf [2] https://github.com/NotAShelf/tuigreet

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#326

Post by prodigycorp » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:59 AM UTC

nazgu1 wrote: post #310

I have mixed feelings... I stumbled upon, read a post-mortem that looks even more AI-generated than the article. "That says something about my writing. It says nothing about who wrote it." - Two contradicting sentences, author's writing skills are part of the author as-a-whole "The short sentences, the reversals, the one-word lines" and then "I will write the next one plainer.". - even more? And... I wonder if this i…

Yeah, I am suprised this article ranks so high. It's either written by AI or it's poorly written. Very little to show on behalf of "taste".

"Taste" is one of these words that have been bandied about recently, in addition to "moat". I've never seen a productive conversation stem from either of those mentiosn.

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#327

Post by owebmaster » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 9:01 AM UTC

innocentoldguy wrote: post #324

nazgu1 wrote: post #310

I have mixed feelings... I stumbled upon, read a post-mortem that looks even more AI-generated than the article. "That says something about my writing. It says nothing about who wrote it." - Two contradicting sentences, author's writing skills are part of the author as-a-whole "The short sentences, the reversals, the one-word lines" and then "I will write the next one plainer.". - even more? And... I wonder if this i…

I'm a writer with what may be an unpopular opinion. I have a college degree in creative writing; I do technical writing and programming for a living, and I used to publish technical articles on Linux, Python, Elixir, and other topics—complete with em dashes—long before AI was a thing. When confronting AI as a writer and deciding how I feel about it, I've landed on the conclusion that I've never accused mathematicians…

People that don't communicate well can't fix that with AI. Turning one line of confusing thoughts into a 30 lines text make it worse, not better.

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#328

Post by prodigycorp » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 9:03 AM UTC

innocentoldguy wrote: post #324

nazgu1 wrote: post #310

I have mixed feelings... I stumbled upon, read a post-mortem that looks even more AI-generated than the article. "That says something about my writing. It says nothing about who wrote it." - Two contradicting sentences, author's writing skills are part of the author as-a-whole "The short sentences, the reversals, the one-word lines" and then "I will write the next one plainer.". - even more? And... I wonder if this i…

I'm a writer with what may be an unpopular opinion. I have a college degree in creative writing; I do technical writing and programming for a living, and I used to publish technical articles on Linux, Python, Elixir, and other topics—complete with em dashes—long before AI was a thing. When confronting AI as a writer and deciding how I feel about it, I've landed on the conclusion that I've never accused mathematicians…

Except calculators provide verifiably good results. AI slop sucks up and wastes everyone's time with nothing verifiably worthwhile.

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#329

Post by __alias » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 9:04 AM UTC

innocentoldguy wrote: post #324

nazgu1 wrote: post #310

I have mixed feelings... I stumbled upon, read a post-mortem that looks even more AI-generated than the article. "That says something about my writing. It says nothing about who wrote it." - Two contradicting sentences, author's writing skills are part of the author as-a-whole "The short sentences, the reversals, the one-word lines" and then "I will write the next one plainer.". - even more? And... I wonder if this i…

I'm a writer with what may be an unpopular opinion. I have a college degree in creative writing; I do technical writing and programming for a living, and I used to publish technical articles on Linux, Python, Elixir, and other topics—complete with em dashes—long before AI was a thing. When confronting AI as a writer and deciding how I feel about it, I've landed on the conclusion that I've never accused mathematicians…

There's a bit of a difference to me between a calculator and writing.. Creativity. Words aren't just a vessel for ideas. If there were different calculation structures etc and space for people to develop their own styles and approaches to calculate things, then sure.

A person's writing style is developed through what they read. And if human's writing style becomes more homogeneous through AI then that's sort of a shame.

Re: Taste Is All That's Left

#330

Post by t0duf0du » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 9:04 AM UTC

innocentoldguy wrote: post #324

nazgu1 wrote: post #310

I have mixed feelings... I stumbled upon, read a post-mortem that looks even more AI-generated than the article. "That says something about my writing. It says nothing about who wrote it." - Two contradicting sentences, author's writing skills are part of the author as-a-whole "The short sentences, the reversals, the one-word lines" and then "I will write the next one plainer.". - even more? And... I wonder if this i…

I'm a writer with what may be an unpopular opinion. I have a college degree in creative writing; I do technical writing and programming for a living, and I used to publish technical articles on Linux, Python, Elixir, and other topics—complete with em dashes—long before AI was a thing. When confronting AI as a writer and deciding how I feel about it, I've landed on the conclusion that I've never accused mathematicians…

Hello friend, do we anything subjective from a calculator?

[edit]:

Someone already pointed this out.