4 ms·
> It's worth reflecting on why it's so hard to convince hold outs to discover how AI might help them I have. My conclusion is... humans are deeply irrational w
by ijidak 5mo ago
> It's worth reflecting on why it's so hard to convince hold outs to discover how AI might help them
I have. My conclusion is... humans are deeply irrational when it comes to rapid change.
Egg or olive oil prices spike, humans out an entire government.
The rate of immigration spikes, humans throw them into camps and break useful treaties.
Most of the resistance I've observed amongst engineers is resistance to change generally.
And then digging in when challenged.
- autoexec 5mo ago> Most of the resistance I've observed amongst engineers is resistance to change generally. Most engineers I've known are enthusiastic when given the opportunity to play around with a new toy. What they don't like is anything being forced on them. There's nothing irrational about that. They've often invested a lot of time into optimizing their workflows. I've also found that if something actually makes their work easier, you will never have to twist their arm to make them use it. They'll apply it everywhere it helps. They'll even try using it in places and in ways it was never intended for. If they're digging in, you likely haven't made a very compelling case for your changes.
- andrekandre 5mo ago> What they don't like is anything being forced on them raises hand (n=1), i'm fine to use it when i need it, but the derangement by management about it is a total put-off and unnecessary (and in the end counter-productive)
- paradox460 5mo agoExactly this >Here's a new editor we made Cool, looks interesting, I'd love to use it more >We're forcing you to use it I hate it
- AlexeyBelov 5mo agoYeah. Nobody mandated Jetbrains products, almost every developer I know decided for themselves. Actually, it was the opposite: I remember asking a company I once worked for to buy me a license. Took 6 months for them to finally agree. Now my monthly allotment of tokens is way bigger than the price of that license, and it was given freely.
- ryandrake 5mo agoYep, if a toy was that good, then everyone would be begging their managers to use it, not the other way around. Nobody ever had to force me to use keyword coloring, code formatters, source control, or a bug tracker.
- dingaling 5mo ago> resistance to change generally Nah, software engineers were always butterflies fluttering from one language or framework to the Next Hot Thing. Change was part of the job, if you didn't keep up you fell behind and atrophied. Resistance to AI is, I think, more because it is seen as an existential threat, or because it's something whose ultimate long-term outcome is still undefined. It's going to be either a benefit or a hazard, and we don't yet know whether we'll need Bladerunners to rein it in.
- parineum 5mo agoI think I can offer an alternate explanation and it jives with your first point. When I use AI to completely write code for me (not using it as a powerful auto complete), it's not fun. I don't learn anything. It takes everything I love about software development and makes it just like any other job. I'm also never happy with the result and, when I go back to make it work the way I want it to, I have to learn a new code base that isn't built the way I would have. If that happens to a project I'm working on as a hobby, I find it incredibly unmotivating. It turns my intellectual pursuit into an assembly line and I hate that.
- bigstrat2003 5mo agoResistance to AI is because it doesn't work. It has nothing to do with job security. It's a tech with nothing but hype, no substance at all.