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Transcript
recently my friend’s comics professor told her that it’s acceptable to use gen Al for script- writing but not for art, since a machine can’t generate meaningful artistic work. meanwhile, my sister’s screenwriting professor said that they can use gen Al for concept art and visualization, but that it won’t be able to generate a script that’s any good. and at my job, it seems like each department says that Al can be useful in every field except the one that they know best.
It’s only ever the jobs we’re unfamiliar with that we assume can be replaced with automation. The more attuned we are with certain processes, crafts, and occupations, the more we realize that gen Al will never be able to provide a suitable replacement. The case for its existence relies on our ignorance of the work and skill required to do everything we don’t.
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I’m in a nightmare scenario where my new job has a guy using Claude to pump out thousands of lines of C++ in a weekend. I’ve never used C++ (just C for embedded devices).
He’s experienced, so I want to believe he knows what he’s doing, but every time I have a question, the answer is “oh that’s just filler that Claude pumped out,” and some copy pasted exposition from Claude.
So I have no idea what’s AI trash and what’s C++ that I don’t know.
Like a random function was declared as a template. I had to learn what function templates are for. So I do, but the function is only defined once, and I couldn’t think of why you would need to templatize it. So I’m sitting here barely grasping the concept and syntax and trying to understand the reasoning behind the decision, and the answer is probably just that Claude felt like doing it that way.
That’s just what C++ people do. They are all equally mad. I am not even joking.
Can you elaborate? This is my first time dealing with higher level languages in the workplace (barring some Python scripts), and I feel like I’m losing my mind.
Ask a C++ programmer to write “Hello World” and they’ll start by implementing a new string type that maybe saves half a CPU instruction when compiled for a very specific CPU but the code can’t be read by anyone else or themselves in 6 weeks
Ah. So basically FizzBuzz Enterprise.
Your coworker is mistreating Claude and this story wants me to call CPS.
Claude will come up with all kinds of creative ideas and that’s neat, but you really need to reign it in to make it useful. Use Claude’s code as a suggestion, cut out the stuff that’s over the top – explain why you did that to Claude, it will generally get it. Add it to your CLAUDE.md if it’s a repeat issue.
Claude will
come up withsurface all kinds ofcreativeeother people’s ideas and that’s neat, but you really need to reign it in to make it useful. Use Claude’s code as a suggestion, cut out the stuff that’s over the top – explain why you did that to Claude, it will generallyget itincorporate that into future prompts. Add it to your CLAUDE.md if it’s a repeat issue.FTFY
Thanks.
Thank you. Dude checked in a shit load of code before going on PTO for three weeks. We get pretty live plots of data, but he broke basically every hardware driver in the process.
That’s actually terrifying. Code has been degrading a lot in the past 10 years or so, and it looks like the LLM trend for code is doing more harm than good. I don’t think that needs to be the case but it appears to be the case.
Like, Microsoft’s CEO bragging that 25% of all their code was written by AI, and that was a year plus ago now so it’s probably higher at this point… I don’t find that reassuring, it’s part of the reason I won’t let my Windows workstation upgrade to 23H2 and I’ve almost completely converted to Linux at home (I keep the laptop running my simulator games on Windows because peripherals can be a pain to get working right without the manufacturer’s software, but it’s also locked to 23H2)
And I’ve used AI to assist me with writing code.
But that’s the distinction: it assists me, it doesn’t write it for me. If I don’t understand how or why something works or why I would do it this way, I’m not using it in production. Far too many seem to be checking out, though, and telling their GPT to take the wheel, and that’s where I think one of the biggest issues comes in.
Yeah that’s Dunning-Kruger in a nutshell. Kind of scary that almost everyone in leadership positions sits atop the peak of “Mount Stupid” for most of the things they make decisions about.
Feel like the plateau of sustainability is too high. Being supremely competent in a field can’t compete with the obnoxious confidence of the idiots…
Interestingly, we all sit somewhere near the peak of “Mount Stupid” on nearly every decision we make in a given day. Btw, how long is yogurt good for in the fridge?
The difference is, the more “leadership” you get, the more isolated you are from getting reality shoved in your face. I think being a billionaire is actually a form of brain damage. They never get feedback on when they are wrong, or if they do, they are surrounded by sycophants who will tell them the critic is wrong. The rest of us at least get humbled once in a while.
Good point. When I go “how hard can it be?” and try to fix my car by myself - I inevitably end up eating humble pie and paying a mechanic.
When CEOs lay off half the company, they cash out their stock and get hired to run another company before they see any consequences.
Choosing a screw. Pretty straightforward, right? It’s not. What forces are involved? What materials the screw and the surface are made of? What conditions will it be exposed to?
playing bass guitar-- there’s an exception. it’s exactly as difficult as it looks
Pretty difficult then? I’ve heard some jazz bass guitarists that were insane
Dead on. Jaco, flea, les claypool do a lot of things that are more complicated than you expect. There are bass methods like “slapping” and “tapping” that arent simple at all.
low end and rhythm-- that’s what the bass guitar is there for. you can still be technically officially a competent “bassist” without any of the fancy technical embellishments that great bass players employ.
but yea, not to disparage the bass guitar at all, but the basics of matching the kick drum and chord progression and the physical chops of actually playing the thing doesn’t take that long to get a handle on
edit: check out les claypool and primus for an example of some rare bass-centric music
Counterpoint: time. Even playing simple lines, there’s a big difference between a groove that is completely locked in, and one that is not. And that difference is all about the precise timing of the hits between the players in the rhythm section. The bass sets the foundation of all of that.
Life is hard for a musician. For a bassist it’s nearly impossible.
Simple bass line, anyone can play this.
I basically assume every aspect of the work my friends do is insanely difficult and they have to put in effort convincing me certain parts are stupid easy that even a child could do it.
Try being born rich.