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Please Use AI

shawnsmucker.substack.com

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Re: Please Use AI

#311

Post by gmueckl »

kccqzy wrote: post #242
ryandrake wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever since I started experimenting with AI coding, I've totally lost that feeling of accomplishment. For projects I actually developed by typing in the code, it feels like I actually did something--like here's something I built and am responsible for bringing into the world. When I finish an AI-built project, I feel...nothing. Just that empty: "Code now exists where it didn't exist before, but I didn't really do anyt…

That’s why fully AI written projects are only interesting to those who care only about productivity (i.e. business use cases) rather than the developer’s enjoyment and satisfaction. For my own sanity, I never allow AI to do everything. Either I write some code and turn to AI for debugging help and code review, or I let AI write the initial draft and I debug the AI-written code.

Welcone to Management - AI Edition: everything bad about technical management except for the people problems.

Re: Please Use AI

#313

Post by jjulius »

SuperV1234 wrote: post #134

I found this quite cringy and an attempt at pulling at one's heartstrings due to the lack of a strong argumentation. I wouldn't have called a friend for a meal plan or to figure out a hiking path 10 years ago, I would have used a search engine. If I want to talk to a friend, I don't need an excuse to do so. And I'm not going to waste their time by asking something I can easily figure out on my own, today with AI, yea…

As others have echoed elsewhere in these responses, this idea can very easily be applied to the broader internet (eg, your Google searches) as well. Not everything is answered with Google. To your point about figuring out a hiking path, I backpack very regularly - search engines consistently return the same sets of results, and I've found wonderful places by talking to friends or others in the community that I, to this day, don't come across when searching for things online.

Just because it gets results doesn't mean there isn't more out there, and that there isn't a benefit to engaging with your community.

I see the same sameness in the results when I use AI to explore such subjects. There's a certain level of homogeneity that comes with relying on Google, Facebook/Instagram/Twitter, and AI for our answers.

Re: Please Use AI

#314

Post by krd8ssb »

kccqzy wrote: post #242
ryandrake wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever since I started experimenting with AI coding, I've totally lost that feeling of accomplishment. For projects I actually developed by typing in the code, it feels like I actually did something--like here's something I built and am responsible for bringing into the world. When I finish an AI-built project, I feel...nothing. Just that empty: "Code now exists where it didn't exist before, but I didn't really do anyt…

That’s why fully AI written projects are only interesting to those who care only about productivity (i.e. business use cases) rather than the developer’s enjoyment and satisfaction. For my own sanity, I never allow AI to do everything. Either I write some code and turn to AI for debugging help and code review, or I let AI write the initial draft and I debug the AI-written code.

I think this is completely dependent on the person building it and why they love building software.

Some people got into software development because they love to code. Others got into it because they love bringing ideas to life and coding was the only means to do so.

I am of the latter. I love software development because it allows me to bring my idea to life. Yes, I love to code but it's a means to get to my ultimate goal. I don't have a lot of time outside of work and family to work on my ideas. They usually just sit in my head until I forget about them.

Being able to use AI to assist in feature planning while I'm on the go, break everything down into organize phases, put those phases into the structured tickets, work on architecture design, and have things come to life around my requirements and within my constraints has been a complete game changer.

Re: Please Use AI

#315

Post by gmueckl »

number6 wrote: post #199
culopatin wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI is like cheap void calories. Writing by hand is calories from a good home cooked meal with all the nutrients and love, AI code (unless maybe you worked on putting together an AI system and the harness is your build), feels like calories from a Sprite. Also I’ve been thinking that ai code is like cheap amazon furniture and hand crafted is well… hand crafted.

Will there be a point where hand crafted does end you somewhere like the Toaster Project [1] [1] https://www.thomasthwaites.com/the-toaster-project/

Wr are already there, in a sense: the amount of basic software in a box that is required to produce more software is already huge. And so is the supply chains behind it.

Re: Please Use AI

#316

Post by nightski »

krd8ssb wrote: post #314
kccqzy wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s why fully AI written projects are only interesting to those who care only about productivity (i.e. business use cases) rather than the developer’s enjoyment and satisfaction. For my own sanity, I never allow AI to do everything. Either I write some code and turn to AI for debugging help and code review, or I let AI write the initial draft and I debug the AI-written code.

I think this is completely dependent on the person building it and why they love building software. Some people got into software development because they love to code. Others got into it because they love bringing ideas to life and coding was the only means to do so. I am of the latter. I love software development because it allows me to bring my idea to life. Yes, I love to code but it's a means to get to my ultima…

It's also not an either/or, You can love both. I still love coding for the challenge, but I also love the productivity benefits AI brings me when producing things that benefit people.

At the end of the day I do not put my skills on a pedestal either, I can learn from AI the same way I learn from reading open source code.

Re: Please Use AI

#317

Post by jjulius »

eunoia wrote: post #26

Beautiful piece. I sometimes feel like technologists actually desire to remove the humanity from the world because it's messy and they don't understand it and therefore they fear it.

I've felt something similar about the internet for a very long time. Time and again I've seen people talk about how they don't have a lot of friends, or that it's hard to make friends, or social interactions are a struggle, which is why the internet is great. I see those comments a lot on HN too, even in this very thread. Hell, I said similar stuff myself when I was younger.

But the more you lean on the internet or on technology, the more you feed that feedback loop of "in-person interaction = hard". Yes, things are difficult, but you're never going to figure out how to be comfortable in those situations if you're not actively putting yourself in them. Growth takes struggle, and I say that with all the empathy in the world.

As Snaut says in Solaris, man needs man.

Re: Please Use AI

#318

Post by inanutshellus »

cstever wrote: post #208
inanutshellus wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I interpreted GP's message as "We used to lean-on and learn-from our friends, families, and coworkers, and insodoing we ourselves improved in a symbiotic way". The "job" in the speech example would be "hey Joe, can I run this speech by you?" In that scenario, the friend would: * feel valued, * connect with you, * have something to do socially instead of "sooo uh whatcha been up to... uh... nice weather...", and * get…

Ok; That's good feedback. Job may not have been the right word. I admit I didn't pass my comment through an LLM, so thank you for helping me improve and push harder. ;)

Or maybe use a friend! "Hey joe, please proofread literally everything I post on the internet! It's your job after all!" ;-)

Re: Please Use AI

#319

Post by functionmouse »

annnoo wrote: post #55

I had this moment when we designed shirts for the marathon we ran as a group. Instead of Brainstorming something funny, we just prompted ChatGPT and chose one of the results. I felt lost immediately. All the creativity, the humanity, the endless hours of putting soul into something. Gone For one hour or so I had some kind of existential crisis. Just because of a funny slogan on a shirt. And sometimes I still feel emp…

Our society does not value originality. We value predictable cogs that, more importantly than anything else, are easily replaced. Far as I can tell the billionaires are modeling us something like a termite colony to work for them.

Re: Please Use AI

#320

Post by jjulius »

"Science? Nonsense! In this situation mediocrity and genius are equally useless! I must tell you that we really have no desire to conquer any cosmos. We want to extend the Earth up to its borders. We don't know what to do with other worlds. We don't need other worlds. We need a mirror. We struggle to make contact, but we'll never achieve it. We are in a ridiculous predicament of man pursuing a goal that he fears and that he really does not need. Man needs man!"

- Dr. Snaut, Solaris (1972)

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