Are you sure about that? Can you make the opposite case and steel-man it? Until you can, a stupid LLM will be smarter than you are.
I can write a PR now. I can code now. Probably not as good as you can, but before LLMs I couldn't. I tried for decades learning to code. My brain is a Top-down network, I can see the big picture very quickly, but I cannot maintain focus to build bottom-up. Now I don't have to. I use LLMs to set the goal, to examine all corner cases, to define the milestones, to predict the wrong turns, to write a human-readable spec, to break it down to units of test code, to write the blue-prints of units of code. I can test them, and debug them with LLMs. The end result can be sub-optimal, but it runs, it does what I want, is well documented, and is maintainable. Before LLMs I couldn't do any of that. In doing all this, I get better at the bottom-up thing, just by trying.
We are a spectrum of people. Do not assume the world is like you.
Everything is collapsing toward a low-trust default. At the end of this trajectory, we rediscover that the analog world becomes valuable precisely because it can't be infinitely replicated.
Authenticity becomes the foundational currency.
But everyone must master AI tools to stay relevant. The brilliant engineer who refuses AI-generated PR by principle will get replaced. Every 18-24 months, as capabilities double, required skills shift. Specialization diminishes. Learning velocity becomes the only durable advantage. These people cannot learn new tricks.
Those who cannot question their assumptions cannot self-correct and will be replaced. The future belongs to the humble, the fluid, and the resilient. 60% of HN users is going toward a very tough time, and I am being very charitable with this assumption.
Large Language Models cannot think but they can self correct. You can think but clearly have some serious problems self-correcting your wrong assumptions. Who is smarter then?
How about Christmas lights? Washing machines? TV and video entertainment? Elevators for the first floor? How about for the second floor? Social media posts, like these?
The demand for technology leads to advancements that meet our needs. As we continue to innovate, we must focus on consuming more energy rather than less.
You are eager to decide what is useful and what is not. Can you predict the future? Can you predict the full impact of technologies? Can you see second, third and forth order effect? Likely not. For instance, many may not have anticipated the significant role smartphones play today.
It concerns me when some individuals attempt to control others' resource usage, potentially leading to authoritarian rule driven by fear. Such actions might result in adverse effects before any noticeable climate changes occur in the near future.
I can write a PR now. I can code now. Probably not as good as you can, but before LLMs I couldn't. I tried for decades learning to code. My brain is a Top-down network, I can see the big picture very quickly, but I cannot maintain focus to build bottom-up. Now I don't have to. I use LLMs to set the goal, to examine all corner cases, to define the milestones, to predict the wrong turns, to write a human-readable spec, to break it down to units of test code, to write the blue-prints of units of code. I can test them, and debug them with LLMs. The end result can be sub-optimal, but it runs, it does what I want, is well documented, and is maintainable. Before LLMs I couldn't do any of that. In doing all this, I get better at the bottom-up thing, just by trying.
We are a spectrum of people. Do not assume the world is like you.