I won't argue but I'll share my experience. I was already better than most of my peers in my industry (software development), depressingly and frustratingly so most of the time. It sucks to feel obligated to carry team after team out of the piles of garbage that they wrote so that we can deliver quality products on time. Take my assertion for what you will. After switching to using LLMs for most of my work, the same gap remains - indeed it has widened.

Recently my co workers have been using them more... and they are amazed at the silliest and most basic of things... sometimes they produce lots of weird garbage _and they think it's acceptable_, at least until you explain reality to them. Part of the problem is that they are being encouraged to use these tools and be vocal about it ("I used AI for X!"... cool story bro). Whereas I've been using them much more covertly and pervasively. I'm not saying what I'm producing is perfect, but it's much better and much more useful and maintainable than what I'm seeing them produce. This is across multiple disciplines (embedded, backend web, planning, design, etc).

My output has changed, it is true. Quality is a little lower sometimes. But I get to choose when and where the quality is acceptable. Being able to judge quality is also a skill. Also, being able to iterate on designs and discard bad ideas quickly - LLMs open new doors here.

If you don't know what to ask for, you're likely to get poor results. LLMs can't think for you. If you don't know what quality is, then you can't judge how good the output is. Being impressed by parlor tricks is worthless.

Tools, techniques, and mindset really matter. ToasterMonkey's "delegating" comment is accurate IMO. I could do any one single part of the work better, but I'm not a team and I also don't have anything near enough energy to compete with the output from these tools. Plus, the improvement over time from these tools is yes gamed but also it is real too.

Ok so here I will argue a bit. The _user_ is the one that learns from experience here - not the LLMs. The user learns what works and what doesn't... how to set up the tools to be useful and productive and keep them the hell away from situations where they fail.

What I've learned is that those who doubt that LLMs have good reason to. And those who sing their praises often have good reason to also.

I switched camps about a year ago and have found that they are like any tool, you have to know how to use it right without cutting yourself or shooting your feet off.

Another critical factor is that they can be both garbage and amazing at the same time. Sadly most of us are using hosted online services for these and the quality can vary by the day. You have to be able to recognize when it goes to shit and change tactics (use a different provider or take a break). Also, the best tools are vastly superior to the commonly used ones. The common ones still suck.

But when they are working... there is no amount of pharmaceuticals that would allow me to work at the pace they do, not even for a short period of time.

I'm glad, because they are allowing me to make so many of my lifelong development dreams come true. I'm a skilled developer, and things I could only imagine building, I can now build. It still takes a lot of time (months or even years of my free time), but it's possible and practical.

And also sad, sure, because why? I'm not sure why. Is it because something has been lost? Yes, it's because an era of humanity is coming to an end and something else is taking it's place. Maybe more humanity, but I'm not sure.

Whatever happened to the old kreimer (or whatever) spam?

I reinstalled DOS several times when I was 12 and just learning to use a computer, after screwing things up badly enough that I needed to set things up fresh. My parents had no idea that anything had changed (their work was on floppy, so they never lost anything).

Not everyone is technical enough to outsmart their kids.

As a parent of two young adults - I took the path of developing trust and tolerance with my kids, rather than being a helicopter parent. Yes, they have done stupid things, this is part of growing up. But we have mutual trust, and they have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes while I'm still around to help them. And they have developed the ability to manage themselves without me. So they don't need me around anymore - but I get to enjoy being in their lives because they want me there.

I don't think you're supposed to read the AC chatbot replies to rsilvergun's posts.

I really enjoy commuting in my sports cars (yes ICE). BUT!!! critical detail. I can't handle driving in rush hour traffic so I have a blast commuting at weird hours.

If most of my time was spent sitting in gridlock, then sure, let the car drive itself.

I am into autox, so I like extremely nimble and fast cars. I love shifting. But IMO:

Stick shifts are about two things:
1. being able to control how hard the engine brakes
2. being able to store energy in the rotating motor temporarily while braking/turning. (e.g. heel/toe)

I suspect EVs could be designed to provide a similar level of control over engine braking; there is not so much need to store rotational energy in an EV, since they produce torque so quickly. People will make EVs that do this eventually. (I am still driving boosted 4 bangers, but I'll switch eventually.)

> Denying reality and thinking it really is about defense...

Where did you get that nonsense from???

What he's woke?!!! no way... sounds rough. lol

Also how is he being hateful?

Just to explain, my monthly bill for these things has been between $200-300 since I started using them intensely (using plans... if I paid at the API level it would be thousands a month). I'm a software developer. Once I realized how useful they are and began to figure out workflows... it was clear that this is an awesome power tool and I don't want to be without it.

For people like me, it's definitely worth it. The amount of cool stuff I can make is fantastic and also I am cementing my professional future by being good at using these tools.

Personal usage of this tech isn't necessarily the problem. You have to recognize that it's facebook who also has access to all this data. Don't feed the monster.

Ah and here is a bunch of interesting data about it: https://annas-archive.gl/blog/...

Here ye go: https://annas-archive.gl/

The linked article on Torrent Freak says says: 6 TB.

My Anna's Archive link is down ATM so I can't verify. I'll check again some other time.

ah reading comprehension... we're talking about the rpi4 here hmm.