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Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance

larsfaye.com

11–20 of 573 posts

Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance

#11
post #6

And math skills are going to collapse from calculator reliance.

"Mental math skills" literally did collapse tho??? "Math skills" to write proofs (which a calculator cannot do) is a fundamentally different skill set than that "math skills" of mechanically doing arithmetic (which a calculator does do).

Seems like critical reading skills have already collapsed.

Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance

#12
post #6

And math skills are going to collapse from calculator reliance.

Your calculator isn’t designed to keep you addicted to it and doesn’t have baked in orders like “be humorous and irreverent when appropriate.”

Also, yes I am dependent on a calculator.

Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance

#14
post #2

I learned BASIC, Pascal and x86 Assembly language by the age of 14-15. None of which I remember (nor care to). The strict instructions (aka language) we gave the compiler was not the point. Those experiences taught me how to think logically, and over time develop a taste/structure for how software should be built, as well as foot guns to avoid. I don't know how you teach that without coding, but the "coding expertise…

> LLMs are just another abstraction layer above programming languages, machine language, etc.

Programming languages are (largely) deterministic. LLMs are not. The boundary between an abstract concept and something executable sits comfortably in the mind of the programmer in non-LLM contexts. This boundary shifts when using an LLM and becomes shared between the programmer and the matrix multiplication machine.

The "layer of abstraction" analogy is therefore technically true but essentially false. "Just another" papers over how seismic of a paradigm shift all of this is.

Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance

#15
post #5

Are engineers still making 100s of thousands a year still just for vibe coding while a nurse and other skilled / highly trained medical professionals working their butt off make half of that? Do we think there is going to be a correction for the vibe coders? Pardon I know such question is controversial but thinking ahead.

The Labor Theory of Value was defeated decades ago, get with the times

Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance

#17
post #5

Are engineers still making 100s of thousands a year still just for vibe coding while a nurse and other skilled / highly trained medical professionals working their butt off make half of that? Do we think there is going to be a correction for the vibe coders? Pardon I know such question is controversial but thinking ahead.

I'm solving harder and harder problems for real users/customers than I was a year ago and our sales are increasing as a result.

Are you saving lives?

Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance

#19
post #6

And math skills are going to collapse from calculator reliance.

This is exactly the right analogy. Granted LLMs are a more sophisticated calculator and engineering is still adapting to this wonky/evolving technology. But to pretend it's a coming catastrophe is to ignore every past parallel development - where this has not happened.
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