Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

Post by mirsadm » Thu, Jan 22, 2026, 7:18 PM UTC

iso1631 wrote: post #403

coldtea wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My "actual job" isn't to write code, but to solve problems Solve enough problems relying on AI writing the code as a black box, and over time your grasp of coding will worsen, and you wont be undestanding what the AI should be doing or what it is doing wrong - not even at the architectural level, except in broad strokes. One ends like the clueless manager type who hasn't touched a computer in 30 years. At which poi…

I have very little knowledge of how transistors shuffle ones and zeros out of registers. That doesn't prevent me from using them to solve a problem. Computing is always abstractions. We moved from plugging to assembly, then to c, then we had languages that managed memory for you -- how on earth can you understand what the compiler should be doing or what it is doing if you don't deal with explicit pointers on a day b…

Post by Talanes » Thu, Jan 22, 2026, 7:25 PM UTC

jackblemming wrote: post #406

ASalazarMX wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then your job has turned into designing solutions, and asking a (sometimes unreliable) LLM to make them for you. If you keep at it, soon you'll accumulate enough cognitive debt to become a fossil, knowing what has to be done, but not quite how it is done.

So no different than management up to the CEO who simply “delegate” to the underlyings?

Post by calf » Thu, Jan 22, 2026, 7:28 PM UTC

iso1631 wrote: post #403

coldtea wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My "actual job" isn't to write code, but to solve problems Solve enough problems relying on AI writing the code as a black box, and over time your grasp of coding will worsen, and you wont be undestanding what the AI should be doing or what it is doing wrong - not even at the architectural level, except in broad strokes. One ends like the clueless manager type who hasn't touched a computer in 30 years. At which poi…

I have very little knowledge of how transistors shuffle ones and zeros out of registers. That doesn't prevent me from using them to solve a problem. Computing is always abstractions. We moved from plugging to assembly, then to c, then we had languages that managed memory for you -- how on earth can you understand what the compiler should be doing or what it is doing if you don't deal with explicit pointers on a day b…

Post by vidarh » Thu, Jan 22, 2026, 7:32 PM UTC

wiseowise wrote: post #351

vidarh wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ever thought that there might be people under skyscraper that is your ego? I do, which is exactly why I found the presumption that not spending your time doing the coding is equivalent to a disability both gross and arrogant. > Where are they supposed to learn good design when slop takes over? You're not learning good architecture and systems design from code. You learn good architecture and systems design from doi…

> And, yes, I stand by the claim the coding is by far the simplest part, on the basis of having done both for longer than most developers have been doing either. Doubling down on your ignorance, bold strategy.

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 22, 2026, 7:32 PM UTC

iso1631 wrote: post #403

coldtea wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My "actual job" isn't to write code, but to solve problems Solve enough problems relying on AI writing the code as a black box, and over time your grasp of coding will worsen, and you wont be undestanding what the AI should be doing or what it is doing wrong - not even at the architectural level, except in broad strokes. One ends like the clueless manager type who hasn't touched a computer in 30 years. At which poi…

I have very little knowledge of how transistors shuffle ones and zeros out of registers. That doesn't prevent me from using them to solve a problem. Computing is always abstractions. We moved from plugging to assembly, then to c, then we had languages that managed memory for you -- how on earth can you understand what the compiler should be doing or what it is doing if you don't deal with explicit pointers on a day b…