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My biggest worry with AI and software dev is the degree to which people are okay with things that sort of work. I mean, we're already there with code that human

My biggest worry with AI and software dev is the degree to which people are okay with things that sort of work. I mean, we're already there with code that humans write. I'm not sure that humans who can't write the code themselves can always fix bugs that sneak into AI-generated code. It's almost less about software and more about how our society just seems to not give a damn about expertise because it costs someone more money. I have a good career built on that expertise along with emotional intelligence, but it's a bitter pill to swallow knowing that everyone's trying to deleverage themselves from needing to pay me for my expertise. I've avoided this to some degree by focusing more on fundamentals than BS like AWS service invocations, but I'm doubting that this strategy will continue to work long-term with AI around. The real sad part is it feels like everyone's happy to suck every last bit of humanity out of work for ok-ish results that come from ingesting the whole Internet and not compensating people for it.

Terr_ 3y ago
> It's almost less about software and more about how our society just seems to not give a damn about expertise because it costs someone more money. Yeah, to me almost all the "old programmer sadness" is actually cultural, it has to do with a feared difference-in/failure-of values. Maybe that's also why "enshittification" is in the zeitgeist right now: It represents a sense of disappointment or betrayal with certain industries/companies/products--but it's with fallible people, rather than with fragile computers.
- mattgreenrocks 3y ago
  100%. I grew up wanting to be a graybeard hacker, then watched as everyone decided that coding should be more social than technical. This feeling of falling out of alignment with values really did a number on me. I can finally say I’ve started to transmute that into energy towards being a solopreneur. It feels like the equivalent of “f this industry I’m taking my ball and going home” but I don’t see any other way that lets me feel agency at this time. Regarding AI: it is a tangible manifestation of the phantoms that keep us running hard on the economic treadmill. Very familiar feeling, really.

Terr_ 3y ago

> It's almost less about software and more about how our society just seems to not give a damn about expertise because it costs someone more money. Yeah, to me almost all the "old programmer sadness" is actually cultural, it has to do with a feared difference-in/failure-of values. Maybe that's also why "enshittification" is in the zeitgeist right now: It represents a sense of disappointment or betrayal with certain industries/companies/products--but it's with fallible people, rather than with fragile computers.

mattgreenrocks 3y ago
100%. I grew up wanting to be a graybeard hacker, then watched as everyone decided that coding should be more social than technical. This feeling of falling out of alignment with values really did a number on me. I can finally say I’ve started to transmute that into energy towards being a solopreneur. It feels like the equivalent of “f this industry I’m taking my ball and going home” but I don’t see any other way that lets me feel agency at this time. Regarding AI: it is a tangible manifestation of the phantoms that keep us running hard on the economic treadmill. Very familiar feeling, really.