beej71

7 ms·

91.
by beej71 2mo ago
A computer can never be held accountable. Therefore a computer must never commit a felony.
92.
by beej71 2mo ago
There is a further point to doing your own hard research, after all: you'll learn the subject in much greater detail than you would if someone just handed you the answer. But this has been known forever. The absolute worst way to learn
93.
by beej71 2mo ago
Then when the recipient gets the response, they can get their agent to read it, summarize it, and then they can write a response.
94.
by beej71 2mo ago
I think the "fun as hell to write and use" angle is underrepresented in the comments—thanks for bringing it up. It is, of course, completely subjective, but I know there are a fair number of people out there who agree with that st
95.
by beej71 2mo ago
So correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you're saying the abstraction layers are asking these lines: Assembly->C->LLM, used by tech lead
96.
by beej71 2mo ago
I think your FORTRAN analogy depends on the assertion that a design doc is some kind of technical abstraction, like a compiler or a for-loop. And there's a lot of disagreement with that premise. :)
97.
by beej71 2mo ago
> While technology layers would go from “who has the best transistors tech” to “should we use windows or macOS?” Those sound dangerously close to project management decisions. What about tech layers closer to coding?
98.
by beej71 2mo ago
As long as your versions don't have any security issues...
99.
by beej71 2mo ago
Once you grok a process, like addition, then the calculator is not a loss. So once you grok programming, debugging, and software engineering, then using the AI is not a loss. But students aren't doing that for the latter if they just p
100.
by beej71 2mo ago
This seems to point to a future crash where we run out of people with the skills to do the work.
101.
by beej71 2mo ago
Do you feel that layers of abstraction in project management and layers of abstraction in the technology being managed are the same thing?
102.
by beej71 2mo ago
Disappointing to read. I think I'll just keep buying used laptops and throwing Linux on them.
103.
by beej71 2mo ago
Small Web, Gemini (protocol), RSS, and even Usenet. I have to make an effort to find the good stuff these days. But it is out there. Oh, and uBO is mandatory. But to TFA's point, yeah, it's screwed.
104.
by beej71 2mo ago
Poe's Law win?
105.
by beej71 2mo ago
> Don't know anyone who's life was made worse by it, and I strongly doubt you do either. I do: students who use it to do their thinking for them. And everyone who uses it to do their thinking for them, for that matter.
106.
by beej71 2mo ago
Not only that, but some random dudes scan the books and put them in shadow libraries.
107.
by beej71 2mo ago
Depends on the book. I'd wager the majority of the rare books are in the public domain. But they won't share them because they don't want their competitors to have the data.
108.
by beej71 2mo ago
I think hacker types look at this list and think, "Wow--that's inept." But I also feel that the administration looks at the list and says, "No, it's absolutely brilliant." And I figure that's because our g
109.
by beej71 2mo ago
We had some trouble with a geology grant that mentioned "mineral inclusion".
110.
by beej71 2mo ago
I guess I understand the complaint, but LLMs are already crap at writing, IMNSHO. And, yes, maybe this will make them marginally more crap, but in my mind we're talking the difference between a 30% grade and a 29%.
111.
by beej71 2mo ago
I don't even ask LLMs to go that far. Tell me if I've made a spelling, punctuation, or grammatical error, period. Don't rewrite a thing, because LLMs suck at that.
112.
by beej71 2mo ago
Yikes. We live in PNW high desert. There are a few ticks here, but it's basically a non-issue. I love it back east, but...
113.
by beej71 2mo ago
But I already have an effective method of removing AI voice from writing.
114.
by beej71 2mo ago
I can't speak for everybody, but it's different for me if there's a chance somebody can read it. I have notebooks offline, too, that nobody will ever see, but they don't get the same fine-toothed comb treatment.
115.
by beej71 2mo ago
> I'd be honored to have the spine cut off and to have them digitized It's probably already been done. But if it hasn't, do it and upload it to a shadow library. You can also check if Internet Archive has scanned it or has
116.
by beej71 2mo ago
When I think about moving to the NE from out west, ticks are one of my main reservations. I think, given how many people and dogs recreate out there, I might have it blown out of proportion.
117.
by beej71 2mo ago
> Thankfully Youtube Premium isn't too expensive and solves that issue. True, but some of us refuse to give that company money on principle. The minute I can't watch YouTube without ads is the minute I stop watching YouTube. (T
118.
by beej71 2mo ago
The War Department even released a film about it in the 40s titled "Don't be a Sucker".
119.
by beej71 2mo ago
If I may, one reason to write about it is to understand it more clearly. Even if nobody reads something I wrote, at least I got better at it.
120.
by beej71 2mo ago
I had an experience like this writing a letter of recommendation. I wrote it, then fed it to an LLM to improve it. The result was markedly a step down, bland, average, and unimpressive. It's like it vacuumed the soul out of it. I hope

More ›