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A guy at a bar spotted me programming last night and forced a conversation on me about an email-processing script ChatGPT helped him write, and showed me the co

A guy at a bar spotted me programming last night and forced a conversation on me about an email-processing script ChatGPT helped him write, and showed me the conversation on his phone. It struck me, as a programmer with a creative writing background, that he was basically writing microfiction with a character (himself) that needed help, and a character (ChatGPT) to help him out.

japhyr 4y ago
How did it work out for him?
- abathur 4y ago
  He, uh, made the following claims: 1. he's been using it for 9 days 2. he has subscribed for gpt4 3. it took 3 rounds of refining to get it running 4. it did what he wanted 5. it took about 15 minutes to do something that would have taken him "3 months" I believe the first 3 but am skeptical of the last 2. He was, in any case, effusive about its capabilities. For context, I should note: - he was obviously inebriated, high, and the sort of person who trusted a stranger (me) with his unlocked phone while he went to the bathroom. (I think this actually has a little to say about how quickly he's picking up good prompting?) - This was at a dive bar in Houston's east end--not really a tech hub. Edit: he was persuasive enough that I intend to try to shift more of my habitual queries from Google to chat gpt until I at least have a deeper grok of effective prompting than I have picked up so far.
zabzonk 4y ago
as someone that has accidentaly destroyed two laptops with liquid spillages, i have never understood the programming in a coffee shop thing, but doing it in a bar???
- abathur 4y ago
  I am quite the clutz, and do spill a lot, but I have yet to ruin any device in the process. A few close calls, but none fatal. I try to mitigate theft/loss/disaster anxiety by keeping a backup/recovery hygiene that enables me to be productive in <2 hours of obtaining a replacement (but I'll sheepishly admit a tool update has the backup script failing atm and I haven't found time to debug). IME I'm more likely to spill beer on one at home than out and about. Something subtle about space or psychology? (Spaces at home are more likely to be cluttered enough to nudge me towards a risky drink placement? Not habituated to expecting spillables near the computer at home? Idk.) I did have some jackass having a whiny argument with someone else spill my beer on my laptop this past summer. Close call, but luckily it was almost empty. This was, to some degree, my mistake for going against my gut and humoring his curiosity about what I was doing long enough for him to decide he was welcome to sit across from me.
- Shaggy2000 4y ago
  [dead]

japhyr 4y ago

How did it work out for him?

abathur 4y ago
He, uh, made the following claims: 1. he's been using it for 9 days 2. he has subscribed for gpt4 3. it took 3 rounds of refining to get it running 4. it did what he wanted 5. it took about 15 minutes to do something that would have taken him "3 months" I believe the first 3 but am skeptical of the last 2. He was, in any case, effusive about its capabilities. For context, I should note: - he was obviously inebriated, high, and the sort of person who trusted a stranger (me) with his unlocked phone while he went to the bathroom. (I think this actually has a little to say about how quickly he's picking up good prompting?) - This was at a dive bar in Houston's east end--not really a tech hub. Edit: he was persuasive enough that I intend to try to shift more of my habitual queries from Google to chat gpt until I at least have a deeper grok of effective prompting than I have picked up so far.

zabzonk 4y ago

as someone that has accidentaly destroyed two laptops with liquid spillages, i have never understood the programming in a coffee shop thing, but doing it in a bar???

abathur 4y ago
I am quite the clutz, and do spill a lot, but I have yet to ruin any device in the process. A few close calls, but none fatal. I try to mitigate theft/loss/disaster anxiety by keeping a backup/recovery hygiene that enables me to be productive in <2 hours of obtaining a replacement (but I'll sheepishly admit a tool update has the backup script failing atm and I haven't found time to debug). IME I'm more likely to spill beer on one at home than out and about. Something subtle about space or psychology? (Spaces at home are more likely to be cluttered enough to nudge me towards a risky drink placement? Not habituated to expecting spillables near the computer at home? Idk.) I did have some jackass having a whiny argument with someone else spill my beer on my laptop this past summer. Close call, but luckily it was almost empty. This was, to some degree, my mistake for going against my gut and humoring his curiosity about what I was doing long enough for him to decide he was welcome to sit across from me.
Shaggy2000 4y ago
[dead]