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Feeling Sad about AI

artificialworlds.net

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Re: Feeling Sad about AI

#21

Post by spijdar »

This strikes a chord with me, though I came to a somewhat different endpoint, at least for now.

My perspective (so far) is that it was probably never a good thing for me to tie up my identity/sense of self in my ability to write moderately clever and generally mediocre code.

I do still enjoy writing my moderately clever and generally mediocre code, and for the sake of my sanity, I'm trying to do more of it.

But either way, I don't think it was never a good viewpoint to make me self-conception pivot around my ability to be useful by writing code, and maybe it's a good thing that LLMs have crushed my ego on that front.

Re: Feeling Sad about AI

#22

Post by urue »

asdfman123 wrote: post #6

I feel like this is a rational response. Personally, while I'm becoming increasingly convinced there's going to be a wave of SWE layoffs, another part of me doesn't grasp it yet. I don't feel it. I was an AI skeptic for a while but it's literally doing my job for me right now. Every month it needs less of my help. Once they replace SWEs, they're going to turn around and replace every other knowledge worker yet. But m…

Lmao this is hilarious.

I’m not a SWE (I’m retired) but this idea that hurrrr durr - if SWE’s are fked so is everyone else!

No this is wrong - it may hurt your ego but get over it.

What software is and what software engineers do is pretty unique compared with other industries and what workers do.

And it just so happens producing software is uniquely suited to llm’s.

Moreover much of software will become consolidated - and that’ll be a big contributor to layoffs.

Who do you think will be the biggest beneficiary of this affect on software?

The big bad govt.

Congrats fellas!

Re: Feeling Sad about AI

#23

Post by paul7986 »

asdfman123 wrote: post #6

I feel like this is a rational response. Personally, while I'm becoming increasingly convinced there's going to be a wave of SWE layoffs, another part of me doesn't grasp it yet. I don't feel it. I was an AI skeptic for a while but it's literally doing my job for me right now. Every month it needs less of my help. Once they replace SWEs, they're going to turn around and replace every other knowledge worker yet. But m…

The Ai overlords have been banging this drum for over a decade with Altman posting about the need for Universal Basic Income on here in 2016.

Re: Feeling Sad about AI

#25

Post by gbanfalvi »

juiceland wrote: post #7

Overpaid techies learning they’re still just as much a means to the capital class’ ends as the factory workers whose jobs the US shipped to lower wage countries. Class consciousness y’all. You’re smart enough to Marx and Piketty so do it.

But why organize and risk getting a few of us fired when we can just wait and do nothing comfortably?

Re: Feeling Sad about AI

#26

Post by cmrdporcupine »

UltraSane wrote: post #3

I feel the same way. I used to love to get into a flow state while programming and feel very proud of clever code and elegant architecture. But now LLMs are so much faster it feels somewhat pointless.

The code is still there, you can still flow with it. And your ability to do so (along with the LLM) will only produce superior results in the long run.

It's just, yes, like all of us .. the temptation is there to not do that.

Re: Feeling Sad about AI

#27

Post by paul7986 »

urue wrote: post #22
asdfman123 wrote: post #6

I feel like this is a rational response. Personally, while I'm becoming increasingly convinced there's going to be a wave of SWE layoffs, another part of me doesn't grasp it yet. I don't feel it. I was an AI skeptic for a while but it's literally doing my job for me right now. Every month it needs less of my help. Once they replace SWEs, they're going to turn around and replace every other knowledge worker yet. But m…

Lmao this is hilarious. I’m not a SWE (I’m retired) but this idea that hurrrr durr - if SWE’s are fked so is everyone else! No this is wrong - it may hurt your ego but get over it. What software is and what software engineers do is pretty unique compared with other industries and what workers do. And it just so happens producing software is uniquely suited to llm’s. Moreover much of software will become consolidated…

Any job that requires human working on computers to complete tasks is slowly becoming irrelevant where the computers themselves do the work.

How many people now make their living completing tasks on computers?

Re: Feeling Sad about AI

#28

Post by alexambarch »

It’s been hard for me to overcome the feeling that anything I can do, the machine can do better and faster.

I know people have been saying “If you’re worried about it replacing you, you weren’t a good engineer to start with,” but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. I had a lot of fun solving problems and thinking deeply, but now my time is much better spent reviewing the plans and code of a machine that’s done that part for me.

Yes it’s still a hobby I can do on the side, but at my day job it’s just sucked all the energy out of me.

Re: Feeling Sad about AI

#29

Post by fidotron »

asdfman123 wrote: post #6

I feel like this is a rational response. Personally, while I'm becoming increasingly convinced there's going to be a wave of SWE layoffs, another part of me doesn't grasp it yet. I don't feel it. I was an AI skeptic for a while but it's literally doing my job for me right now. Every month it needs less of my help. Once they replace SWEs, they're going to turn around and replace every other knowledge worker yet. But m…

> I can't believe the AI boosters were right.

Not even sure they can believe it.

The AI field has known, but repeatedly ignored, that the knowledge work group would end up first on the chopping block, especially for those where everything they touch is digitally encoded already.

I used to joke that we're all really in trouble when robots can sort out your socks, but as of about a year ago I started seeing disturbing progress on that incredibly gnarly problem.

Most people really are going to be in denial about this as a coping mechanism, but the truth is the worst thing would be slowing down the spread of this through the economy creating large minorities of disenfranchised. It would be far better to get to the end asap, whatever it proves to be.

Re: Feeling Sad about AI

#30

Post by darkwi11ow »

Llm is a tool. Programming had used lots of tools through the history. Programming itself, is a tool for societal change. Building identity around it is ridiculous, I believe much healthier identity building is around what you can do with programming, rather about the fact of programming. Just my two cents
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