Bored of It • Hacker News Board

Re: Bored of It

#341

Post by Arisaka1 » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:08 PM UTC

n4r9 wrote: post #170

diggan wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I initially picked up programming because I wanted to create things (well, initially break things, but moved on from that), and the programming was one way of doing that. I only learned how to structure my programs, because they became hard to change. I only learned testing and refactoring, because I noticed I was faster when the code was better and more tested, even if the upfront cost was slightly higher. If I was…

> would I have been able to learn even more and faster, since I wouldn't have been all alone banging my head against some trivial problem for weeks? Would even that have some downsides in the long-term, since the process of banging one's head could be crucial to rewiring your brain to understand new concepts.

I think the argument made is, if there's no added value by understanding something deeper when it will inevitably do better than now, the only reason to dig deeper is for one's curiosity.

All that digging now translates to expertise that is critical and potentially lucrative. But if it's only going to get better then for how long will this be true?

Re: Bored of It

#342

Post by WD-42 » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:08 PM UTC

lurk2 wrote: post #196

mapt wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On that specific quote - I feel like this is offensive on more than one level. The waste of our best minds... sure. Fine. But - "to sell you ads." Marketting has the dubious distinction of being one area of human endeavor where technological advances serve mostly to make your life worse, make your mind less focused, make your wallet more empty. The spherical-cow "ideal" 100% efficient perfect marketing campaign/tacti…

> The spherical-cow "ideal" 100% efficient perfect marketing campaign/tactic literally hypnotizes you into dropping all your money on an arbitrary good or service. It is isomorphic to somebody mugging you. I like the quote and despise advertising of any kind for mostly the same reason, but you could apply this logic to any kind of business and it starts to fall apart. > The spherical-cow "ideal" 100% efficient perfec…

The difference is all those other things you listed - food, drugs, etc provide value. An ad provides none.

Re: Bored of It

#343

Post by spencerflem » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:09 PM UTC

cdecl wrote: post #333

lurk2 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any sort of communication of a novel thing would fall under this banner Yeah, that was what I was getting at. I believe it in theory, but in practice I find all advertising to be the sort of implicit-mugging the grandparent is describing. > but I learn about new FOSS projects on here every day because the maintainers and developers are willing to 'advertise' them to me. That’s an excellent counter-point. I’ve had t…

> I find all advertising to be the sort of implicit-mugging the grandparent is describing. Unfortunately, it's a useful thing that people have used to prey on our inquisitive simian brains. Personally, I'm in favor of doing things like banning billboards &c, but it's hard to draw a line on banning advertising in general.

I think I'd be willing to extend it to all forms paid advertising that you are forced to see in the course of doing something else.

Re: Bored of It

#344

Post by KineticLensman » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:10 PM UTC

conductr wrote: post #160

gzer0 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm, this isn't just an IT thing. Physicians are a prime example—people tend to put doctors on a pedestal, and some doctors start believing they know everything about everything, even when it's clearly outside their wheelhouse. Being smart in one area doesn’t automatically make you an expert in another, but it’s easy for everyone involved to forget that.

I’m a CFO that used to work in healthcare. Have had many cases where a doctor tries to explain to me how accounting “should work” and I have to tell them we have this little thing call revenue recognition or GAAP or how accruals work, etc. basically the stuff covered in accounting 101. I’m used to fielding questions about numbers from all types but only doctors will immediately jump to telling you it’s wrong without…

> how accruals work

Slightly off-topic but I worked at a UK research organisation that was a privatised entity recently spun-off from a civil-service organisation. The new CEO (who came from a finance background) got a tour of each department. He apparently listened to all of the tech evangelism from the department directors and then asked them how their department's accruals were doing. Those department directors who asked him to clarify what he meant by accruals didn't stay in post very long. Allegedly.

Us lowly engineers just kept our heads down.

Re: Bored of It

#345

Post by placardloop » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:10 PM UTC

hersko wrote: post #223

This is insane. We have created the greatest tool in human history and people are complaining. I can use it to help me code, fix modeling issues as I learn CAD, help me troubleshoot the issues in my two-stroke leafblower engine and can consistently walk me through complex leetcode algorithms. It literally knows everything and people still complain.

It isn’t even close to being the greatest tool in human history. This type of misunderstanding and hyperbole is exactly why people are tired/bored/frustrated of it.

The uncomfortable truth is that AI is the world’s greatest con man. The tools and hype around them have created an environment where AI is incredibly effective at fooling people into thinking it is knowledgeable and helpful, even when it isn’t. And the people it is fooling aren’t knowledgeable enough in the topics being described to realize they’re being conned, and even when they realize they’ve been conned, they’re too proud to admit it.

This is exactly why you see people that are deeply knowledgeable in certain areas pointing out that AI is fallible, meanwhile you have people like CEOs that lack the actual technical depth in topics praising AI. They know just enough to think they know what “good” looks like, but not enough to realize when the “good” output is just lipstick on a pig.

Re: Bored of It

#346

Post by d--b » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:10 PM UTC

Is he talking about IT? Cause I m quite bored of IT myself.

Re: Bored of It

#347

Post by pj_mukh » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:11 PM UTC

cloogshicer wrote: post #320

pj_mukh wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"would be, above all, empathetic. Concerned about the well being of their fellow humans." I'm tired of this line. We are animals first and foremost. Complicated animals, but animals nonetheless. We will never consistently be this. The best of us will try but most of us will animalistically react to the incentives in front of us in selfish ways. We are better of thinking of systems and the incentives they create than…

Except our superior ability to collaborate is arguably our strongest asset.

Of course! Nothing I said precludes this. Lots of collaboration is used for selfish means.

Re: Bored of It

#348

Post by spencerflem » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

cdecl wrote: post #330

spencerflem wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marketing is so rarely for a "novel" thing. The biggest spender is CocaCola, how much do we still need to know about them?

Rarely by dollar amount or by volume? Because I assume, by volume, it must be mostly novel things.

Volume of ads I see, or companies buying ads?

Volume of ads I see is proportional to dollar amount imo. Outside of movie trailers I don't think I've ever seen an ad and been happy to know about whatever it was.

Re: Bored of It

#349

Post by baconbrand » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

WD-42 wrote: post #342

lurk2 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The spherical-cow "ideal" 100% efficient perfect marketing campaign/tactic literally hypnotizes you into dropping all your money on an arbitrary good or service. It is isomorphic to somebody mugging you. I like the quote and despise advertising of any kind for mostly the same reason, but you could apply this logic to any kind of business and it starts to fall apart. > The spherical-cow "ideal" 100% efficient perfec…

The difference is all those other things you listed - food, drugs, etc provide value. An ad provides none.

Ads provide information. An event you might be interested in is happening. A food you might like is available. A thing that will totally improve your life can be yours. etc

Re: Bored of It

#350

Post by layer8 » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

lapcat wrote: post #251

beepbooptheory wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "utility" here?

What did you learn from the submission? What did anyone learn from it?

I learned that many people seem to share that sentiment, and further details and analogies about it from the discussion thread. It’s learning about others’ opinions, assessments, and thoughts.