Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Protect your consciousness from AI

jordangoodman.bearblog.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 49 posts

Re: Protect your consciousness from AI

#31

Post by whiplash451 »

mrloba wrote: post #15

It is everywhere. Even on birthday invites for my kids there's nonsense from an LLM. At work I review PRs with code that doesn't even run. Doing research is harder than ever as more and more references are completely made up. We're too lazy and too obsessed with getting ahead to use this technology responsibly in my opinion.

Savvy researchers/engineers have an opportunity to arbitrage here: working without LLMs on something hard leads to better outcome than what your "AI-enabled" peers achieve (after all, Karpathy could not resort on any AI to build nano-chat). It's sad state of affairs, but it really is there.

Re: Protect your consciousness from AI

#32

Post by subquantum2 »

Agree that this LLM stuff 'dumbs down' or using a better word for it 'changes the human skill set'. Your real skills are reduced over time. The LLM is like a broken mirror of your own skills and because the mirror is biased at some point you do not learn anymore, or learn the biased world, it becomes brain rot, you become the LLM pet. you cannot function without your owner...

On the negative side: The LLM uses fancy language to try to convince disinfo. The danger is that you do not see this disinfo and it will shape your consciousness that is the trap.

However if you are lucky you learn to distrust the LLMs it's not a educated AI.

On the positive side: You can still use it as search engine or to get some ideas But you should continue on your own to increase your creative skills.

Your consciousness / attention is stolen on a daily basis to keep you occupied to do stuff. However this is already ongoing before LLMs, before the computer age.

I think at some point your consciousness will detect this brain rot at some point and evolve beyond.

Our body's has evolved to copy trait from others from childhood on, moreover it's also in our DNA itself its created to copy. So the LLM is not any different but you should be aware which trait to copy.

Re: Protect your consciousness from AI

#33

Post by ChrisArchitect »

Thought this would be something more about being AI-pilled.... the increasing effect of contact with AI systems and content created by them that leads to a mindset we're seeing more of where one constantly questions everything about their reality. Protect your conciousness from that.

Re: Protect your consciousness from AI

#34

Post by roxolotl »

zwnow wrote: post #20
Chance-Device wrote: post #17

I was expecting something about how to protect your consciousness from (or during) AI use, but I got a short 200 word note rehashing common sentiments about AI. I guess it’s not wrong, it’s just not very interesting.

It is very interesting because it tackles things people love to forget when using AI. A little over a decade ago it was scandal on how big tech companies are using peoples data, now people give it knowingly to them via all kinds of bullshit apps. So you have to repeat the obvious over and over, and even then it wont click for many.

So wild to think Cambridge Analytica was a scandal worthy of congressional hearings. LLMs are personalized persuasion on steroids.

Re: Protect your consciousness from AI

#36

Post by i_love_retros »

simonw wrote: post #18
mrloba wrote: post #15

It is everywhere. Even on birthday invites for my kids there's nonsense from an LLM. At work I review PRs with code that doesn't even run. Doing research is harder than ever as more and more references are completely made up. We're too lazy and too obsessed with getting ahead to use this technology responsibly in my opinion.

How do those PR authors react when you point out that the code doesn't run and block the merge? Any signs of them improving their work ethic over time based on your feedback?

Of course they are providing that feedback! No one gives a shit though. Our industry and society at large has basically given approval for people to submit AI slop. Managers and executives consider it working smart and efficiently. So telling someone "this code doesn't run" results in more slop in an attempt to fix it. Eventually it will run and get merged and the code base gets even shitter. There's only so much gate keeping and quality control the few people who actually give a damn can be expected to do when swimming against the tide. Mental health is a thing. And to quote Dan Ashcroft, the idiots are winning.

Re: Protect your consciousness from AI

#37

Post by simonw »

dingnuts wrote: post #29
simonw wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do those PR authors react when you point out that the code doesn't run and block the merge? Any signs of them improving their work ethic over time based on your feedback?

[flagged]

You could name the library so other people who search for it find your review.

Re: Protect your consciousness from AI

#38

Post by simonw »

i_love_retros wrote: post #36
simonw wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do those PR authors react when you point out that the code doesn't run and block the merge? Any signs of them improving their work ethic over time based on your feedback?

Of course they are providing that feedback! No one gives a shit though. Our industry and society at large has basically given approval for people to submit AI slop. Managers and executives consider it working smart and efficiently. So telling someone "this code doesn't run" results in more slop in an attempt to fix it. Eventually it will run and get merged and the code base gets even shitter. There's only so much gat…

Do managers genuinely not care if the code they are paying to have written works or not?

Re: Protect your consciousness from AI

#39

Post by Agraillo »

idiotsecant wrote: post #11
delichon wrote: post #6

> This creates a sea of noise and misinformation that people unknowingly consume at scale. The same objections apply to the written word. A culture that succeeded in not succumbing to writing and reading may indeed have been better off in the short term, depending on the quality of the memes. But it would have been at a competitive disadvantage to cultures that were permissive with knowledge transfer. The main advant…

It distills knowledge in the same way that breakfast cereal distills complex food into quick easy energy. The problem is that AI gives us diabetes of the soul . There is value in struggle and the learning that results

I think GP by mentioning "knowledge transfer" meant, for example, he benefits from the embedding space and semantic equivalence of LLMs when you want to know more about a fact, an entity, a law, or something else. Yes, hallucinations can spoil this transfer, but I see no issue in using this tool to get quicker to the prior art or what is on the "shoulders of giants."

Though, when we try to use it as a synthesizer of new knowledge (software, article, review), that's when the OP's thinking about protection makes sense.

Re: Protect your consciousness from AI

#40

Post by saulpw »

simonw wrote: post #14
satisfice wrote: post #8

I always thought hacker culture was independent and skeptical. Somehow AI has turned a lot of them into drooling fanboys. It’s embarrassing. Don’t rely on AI, guys. Have pride in yourselves.

I thought a big part of hacker culture involved taking interest in new technology, exploring the edges of it (and beyond those edges) and figuring out what works and what breaks - and how to break it. I don't understand why many software engineers are so resistant to exploring AI. It's fascinating!

I've explored AI, and will continue to do so. I deliberately overcame my resistance to it because I'm an old-school hacker and I do enjoy tinkering with technology. But regardless of how cool it is and whether it works or not (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't), it doesn't make me feel good. Like the brain stupor I get from watching a vapid movie, or eating too much sugar and bouncing off the walls.

Relatedly, this blog quote[0] really resonated with me:

> reaching the end state of a task as fast as possible has never been my primary motivation. I code to explore ideas and problem spaces...

Using AI to code is like mountain biking but on a motor scooter, and you're riding in a sidecar looking at a map while a golem drives the bike. It's amazing that the golem can drive the bike at all, to be sure, and yes I'm wearing a helmet so the crashes aren't too bad, but...what are we doing here? I like riding my bike! It might be more physical work for me (but also with the golem I often have to get out and push the motorbike anyway so it's not clear), but when I'm biking, I'm connected to the ground and I can get into a flow state with it. I'm also getting exercise and getting better at biking and learning the trails and it's easy to hop off and explore some useless cave that's not accessible by bike, just because it looks interesting. I know the AI-proponent answer is "you still can!" but when I'm in the sidecar, my modality shifts. I'm no longer independent, I'm using a different kind of agency that's map- and destination- focused, and I'm not paying attention to the unfolding world around me.

So I understand why some people are excited about AI, and I don't think it's necessarily bad (though it does seem insidious in some pretty obvious ways, that even its proponents are aware/wary of). But why are many of those people, like yourself, seemingly unwilling/unable to understand why others of us are bouncing off it?

I feel like people keep explaining this, often in direct replies to your comments like this one, some of which you specifically even respond to. So if you still don't understand, maybe you're reading but not actually listening? Or maybe long-term memory deteriorates as one merges with the AI?

[0]https://handmadeoasis.com/ai-and-software-engineering-the-co...

Post reply on HN