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Behavioral psychology goes a long way in explaining the weird distribution of responses to using LLMs to generate code: "Gambling-like behavior in pigeons: ‘ja

Behavioral psychology goes a long way in explaining the weird distribution of responses to using LLMs to generate code: "Gambling-like behavior in pigeons: ‘jackpot’ signals promote maladaptive risky choice" https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06641-x https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06641-x The tech industry is actively promoting gambling addiction and the scary thing is that people are willingly walking into that trap. Take a look at this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44849147 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44849147 "Most of what I've learned from talking to people about their workflows is counterintuitive and subtle." Seriously? Are we at the point of doing rain dances for these models and describing the moves as "counterintuitive and sublte"? This is some magical thinking level self delusion. Downvote all you like, or ignore this. Agency is being taken away from us, no one gets to say we didn't see it coming down the line because we did and we said something and our peers treated us like ignorant and self interested for pointing out the obvious.

ath3nd 1y ago
Very insightful. You are not alone: https://rgoldfinger.com/blog/2025-07-26-claude-code-is-a-slot-machine/ https://rgoldfinger.com/blog/2025-07-26-claude-code-is-a-slo... > Are we at the point of doing rain dances for these models and describing the moves as "counterintuitive and sublte" Yes, we are. LLM cultists can downvote as much as they like, but the reality is that with all the incantations and coaxing, we not only don't see a positive effect, we see a net negative effect on the quality of our software. On the ground level of OSS we are drowning in AI generated slop: https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/15/curl_creator_mulls_nixing_bug/ https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/15/curl_creator_mulls_ni... On the enterprise level we are creating more and worse code, faster. In the news, we are generating more and worse and factually wrong articles, faster. In our personal lives, guided by our sycophantic LLMs assistants, we offload more and more cognitive chores, becoming dumber and dumber. LLM-produced slop is like the plastic of text: cheap and easy to use and proliferate, and then 40 years later you realize it's everywhere in the environment and in your brain, and that it's toxic to all life.
- jama211 1y ago
  And like plastic, a fantastic material for many jobs, it’s just has its own pros and cons
  - ath3nd 1y ago
    > And like plastic, a fantastic material for many jobs Yes, by the same logic arsenic has many pros (and some cons, admittedly) in paint production, thorium is a not bad material for toothpaste (google it), and asbestos is just dandy for fire insulation (with some teeny tiny negatives for your lungs). The fact that plastic is in the bloodstream of every living being and it's a strong endocrine disruptor and there is literally a garbage patch of it floating in our oceans is a small price to pay for the convenience and pleasure of drinking coca-cola from a lighter-than-glass bottle! Fantastic material indeed! What other fantastic materials are there? Lead for pipes? White phosphorus for matches?
    - jama211 1y ago
      I’m sensing just a “hint” of bad faith wording from you here if I’m being honest with you.
      - GreenWatermelon 1y ago
        There isn't a hint of bad faith in the Parent's comment, it's just a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek way to say that it's not really cool to poison the fuck out of ourselves just because x material is kinda nice for y.
        jama211 1y ago
        Well I was being polite by saying a hint, there was in fact a lot. If you can’t see it, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that.
- jama211 1y ago
  Also in general I find developers usually overestimate the value of good code outside of mission critical systems. The true value return of spending way more time and effort to improve code quality often simply isn’t worth it from a holistic perspective.
Terr_ 1y ago
"Gambling pathologies: It's not just for end-users anymore!"™

ath3nd 1y ago

Very insightful. You are not alone: https://rgoldfinger.com/blog/2025-07-26-claude-code-is-a-slot-machine/ https://rgoldfinger.com/blog/2025-07-26-claude-code-is-a-slo... > Are we at the point of doing rain dances for these models and describing the moves as "counterintuitive and sublte" Yes, we are. LLM cultists can downvote as much as they like, but the reality is that with all the incantations and coaxing, we not only don't see a positive effect, we see a net negative effect on the quality of our software. On the ground level of OSS we are drowning in AI generated slop: https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/15/curl_creator_mulls_nixing_bug/ https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/15/curl_creator_mulls_ni... On the enterprise level we are creating more and worse code, faster. In the news, we are generating more and worse and factually wrong articles, faster. In our personal lives, guided by our sycophantic LLMs assistants, we offload more and more cognitive chores, becoming dumber and dumber. LLM-produced slop is like the plastic of text: cheap and easy to use and proliferate, and then 40 years later you realize it's everywhere in the environment and in your brain, and that it's toxic to all life.

jama211 1y ago
And like plastic, a fantastic material for many jobs, it’s just has its own pros and cons
- ath3nd 1y ago
  > And like plastic, a fantastic material for many jobs Yes, by the same logic arsenic has many pros (and some cons, admittedly) in paint production, thorium is a not bad material for toothpaste (google it), and asbestos is just dandy for fire insulation (with some teeny tiny negatives for your lungs). The fact that plastic is in the bloodstream of every living being and it's a strong endocrine disruptor and there is literally a garbage patch of it floating in our oceans is a small price to pay for the convenience and pleasure of drinking coca-cola from a lighter-than-glass bottle! Fantastic material indeed! What other fantastic materials are there? Lead for pipes? White phosphorus for matches?
  - jama211 1y ago
    I’m sensing just a “hint” of bad faith wording from you here if I’m being honest with you.
    - GreenWatermelon 1y ago
      There isn't a hint of bad faith in the Parent's comment, it's just a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek way to say that it's not really cool to poison the fuck out of ourselves just because x material is kinda nice for y.
      - jama211 1y ago
        Well I was being polite by saying a hint, there was in fact a lot. If you can’t see it, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that.
jama211 1y ago
Also in general I find developers usually overestimate the value of good code outside of mission critical systems. The true value return of spending way more time and effort to improve code quality often simply isn’t worth it from a holistic perspective.

Terr_ 1y ago

"Gambling pathologies: It's not just for end-users anymore!"™