Slop Terrifies Me

>What if the future of computing belongs not to artisan developers or Carol from Accounting, but to whoever can churn out the most software out the fastest? What if good enough really is good enough for most people?

Sounds like the cost of everything goes down. Instead of subscription apps, we have free Fdroid apps. Instead of only the 0.1% commissioning art, all of humanity gets to commission art.

And when we do pay for things, instead of an app doing 1 feature well, we have apps do 10 features well with integration. (I am living this, instead of shipping software with 1 core feature, I can do 1 core feature and 6 different options for free, no change order needed)

I use AI/LLMs hard for my programming.

They allow me to do work I could never have done before.

But there’s no chance at all of an LLM one shotting anything that I aim to build.

Every single step in the process is an intensely human grind trying to understand the LLM and coax it to make the thing I have in mind.

The people who are panicking aren’t using this stuff in depth. If they were, then they would have no anxiety at all.

If only the LLM was smart enough to write the software. I wish it could. It can’t, nor even close.

As for web browsers built in a few hours. No. No LLM is coming anywhere new at building a web browser in a few hours. Unless your talking about some super simple super minimal toy with some of the surface appearance of a web browser.

> You get AI that can make you like 90% of a thing! 90% is a lot. Will you care about the last 10%? I'm terrified that you won't.

Based on the Adobe stock price the market thinks AI slop software will be good enough for about 20% of Adobe users (or Adobe will need to make its software 20% cheaper, or most likely somewhere between).

Interestingly workday, which is possibly slightly simpler software more easily replicable using coding agents is about the same (down 26%).

>Possibly, this will bring a new era of decent macOS desktop and mobile apps, not another web app that I have to run in my browser and have no control over.

There has been no shortage of mobile apps, Apple frequently boasts that there are over 2 million of them in the App Store.

I have little doubt there will be more, whether any of the extra will be decent remains to be seen.

I think this is far too nuanced. I am terrified by what the civilization we have known will become. People living in less advanced economies will do OK, but the rest of us not so much. We stand on the brink of a world where some wealthy people will get more wealthy, but very many will struggle without work or prospects.

A society where a large percent have no income is unsustainable in the short term, and ultimately liable to turn to violence. I can see it ending badly. Trouble who in power is willing to stop it?