4 ms·
Yep, good observation. And it's so exhausting not to take a side. Because people on both sides invariably misinterpret you as being on the other side and strawm
by mtlmtlmtlmtl 8d ago
Yep, good observation. And it's so exhausting not to take a side. Because people on both sides invariably misinterpret you as being on the other side and strawman you accordingly.
Personally, I agree with the author on some things. The copyright laundering, the PR theatrics in search of regulatory capture, the concentration of power in a handful of gargantuan corporations in a country currently headed for totalitarianism at an alarming pace. The proliferation of slop drowning out all the good stuff. These are genuine issues, and they worry me, a great deal.
And yet, it's become impossible to seriously contend that this technology isn't tremendously useful for certain tasks. I've used it myself with good results. But I don't buy the maximally bullish view that an LLM will eventually surpass humans in all areas. There are severe flaws with the technology that are inherent to its architecture and simply cannot be scaled away. This is as incontrovertible to me as its usefulness. The trough of disillusionment is coming for all of us, it always does. And much like the internet past the trough, we'll have a lot of cool new shit as a result of this technology, and we'll have a lot of horrifying new problems as well. This is the case for any paradigm shifting technology.
That's my view when trying my best to be objective.
Subjectively though, I'm deeply depressed about it all. LLMs have taken everything I love about computing and turned it on its head. I got into computers because they were so different from people. Mathematical, rigorous, efficient, unambigious(yes, bugs can be very confusing but there's always a satisfying and logical answer to dig out with enough effort). Now, apparently, to do the job I (used to) love, I have to spend most my time spoonfeeding instructions to a pretentious, know-it-all asshole who repeatedly fails to follow simple instruction, and yet is somehow still better than me at my job. I hate it. I'm 10 times more productive, and 100% of the joy is gone. I've quit, and I'm now considering what the fuck to do with my life. Something with minimal computer involvement. I will continue to code as a hobby and tool for my own purposes, LLM free, but I won't even bother uploading my code anywhere, because what's the point.