> All that said, the actual workday is absolutely filled with busy work that no one really wants to do, and the refusal of a loud minority to engage with that fact is what's leading to this.
The attitude and push back from this loud minority has always been weird to me. Ever since I got my hands on my first computer as a kid, I've been outsourcing parts of my brain to computing so that I can focus on more interesting things. I no longer have to remember phone numbers, I no longer have to carry a paper notepad, my bookshelf full of reference books that constantly needed to be refreshed became a Google search away instead. Intellisense/code completion meant I didn't have to waste time memorizing every specific syntax and keyword. Hell, IDEs have been generating code for a long time. I was using Visual Studio to automatically generate model classes from my database schema for as long as I can remember, and even generating CRUD pages.
The opportunity to outsource even more of the 'busywork' is great. Isn't this was technology is supposed to do? Automate away the boring stuff?
The only reasoning I can think of is that the most vocal opponents work in careers where that same busywork is actually most of their job, and so they are naturally worried about their future.
> Ever since I got my hands on my first computer as a kid, I've been outsourcing parts of my brain to computing so that I can focus on more interesting things. I no longer have to remember phone numbers, I no longer have to carry a paper notepad, my bookshelf full of reference books that constantly needed to be refreshed became a Google search away instead. Intellisense/code completion meant I didn't have to waste time memorizing every specific syntax and keyword. Hell, IDEs have been generating code for a long time. I was using Visual Studio to automatically generate model classes from my database schema for as long as I can remember, and even generating CRUD pages.
I absolutely agree with you, but I do think there's a difference in kind between a deterministic automation you can learn to use and get better at, and a semi-random coding agent.
The thing I'm really struggling with is that unlike e.g. code completion, there doesn't seem to be a clear class of tasks that LLMs are good at vs bad at. So until the LLMs can do everything, how do I keep myself in the loop enough that I'll have the requisite knowledge to step in when the LLM fails?
You mention how technology means we no longer have to remember phone numbers. But what if all digital contact lists had a very low chance of randomly deleting individual contacts over time? Do you keep memorizing phone numbers? I'm not sure!
When you off load that stuff to a computer, you loose cognitive abilities. Heck Im even being careful how much I use mapping tools now because I want to know where I am going and how I get there.
FYI: I do not work for any corporations, I provide technical services directly to the public. So there is really concerns about this tech by everyday people that do not have a stake in keeping a job.
Thank you for expressing well what I was thinking. I derive intense joy from coding. Like you my over my 40 year career I've been exploiting more and more ways to outsource work to computers. The space of software is so vast that I've never worried for a second that I'd not have work to do. Coding is a means to solving interesting problems. It is not an end in itself.
What are the "interesting parts" is hard to quantify because my interests vary, so even if a machine can do those parts better than me, doesn't necessarily mean I'll use the machine.
The arts is a good example. I still enjoy analog photography & darkroom techniques. Digital can (arguably) do it better, faster, and cheaper. Doesn't change the hobby for me.
But, at least the option is there. Should I need to shoot a wedding, or some family photos for pay, I don't bust out my 35mm range finder and shoot film. I bring my R6, and send the photos through ImagenAI to edit.
In that way, the interesting parts are whatever I feel like doing myself, for my own personal enjoyment.
Just the other day I used AI to help me make a macOS utility to have a live wallpaper from an mp4. Didn't feel like paying for any of the existing "live wallpaper" apps. Probably a side project I would never have done otherwise. Almost one shot it outside of a use-after-free bug I had to fix myself, which ended up being quite enjoyable. In that instance, the interesting part was in the finding a problem and fixing it, while I got to outsource 90% of the rest of the work.
I'm rambling now, but the TL;DR is I'm more so excited about having the option to outsource portions of something rather than always outsourcing. Sometimes all you need is a cheap piece of mass produced crap, and other times you want to spend more money (or more time) making it yourself, or buying handmade from an expert craftsman.
The attitude and push back from this loud minority has always been weird to me. Ever since I got my hands on my first computer as a kid, I've been outsourcing parts of my brain to computing so that I can focus on more interesting things. I no longer have to remember phone numbers, I no longer have to carry a paper notepad, my bookshelf full of reference books that constantly needed to be refreshed became a Google search away instead. Intellisense/code completion meant I didn't have to waste time memorizing every specific syntax and keyword. Hell, IDEs have been generating code for a long time. I was using Visual Studio to automatically generate model classes from my database schema for as long as I can remember, and even generating CRUD pages.
The opportunity to outsource even more of the 'busywork' is great. Isn't this was technology is supposed to do? Automate away the boring stuff?
The only reasoning I can think of is that the most vocal opponents work in careers where that same busywork is actually most of their job, and so they are naturally worried about their future.