ÐДѷє ۷ǿȵ ຣMay 23
Nolan Lawson

"The Copilot Delusion" by Jj https://deplet.ing/the-copilot-delusion/

"You’re not working with a copilot. You’re playing Russian roulette with a loaded dependency graph."

Infinitely quotable. I wish I could write like this.

May 23 at 12:54amWeb
Show threadGerard BraadMay 23

@nolan

> I wish I could write like this.

Problem solved.

Show threadmastodon quixoteMay 23
@gbraad @nolan This sucks shit.
Show threadGerard BraadMay 23

@valrus @nolan

But that is what happens already. I see a lot of slop generated by AI in every day use... It feels like people are getting lazy to write their replies or messages
😞

Show threadmirabilosMay 23
@nolan @gbraad don’t. Just don’t, not even for fun.
Show threadFred MoyerMay 23
@nolan @genehack ”adirected acyclic graph”
Show threadalexMay 23
@nolan "When you outsource the thinking, you outsource the learning." Well spoken.
Show threadChristian NiklasMay 23
@nolan My favorite line is this: “When you outsource the thinking, you outsource the learning.”
You can't repeat that often enough.
Show threadhappyborgMay 24

@websident

It's good but misses an important impact of outsourcing to LLMs.

They don't learn, so learning stops.

Also they don't think.

Sorry  
@nolan

Show threadSylvia Wenmackers 🦉🍀May 23

@nolan So many gems in this one, thank you for sharing it!

"A real copilot...? ... When they speak, it’s to enhance the pilot—not to shotgun random advice into the cockpit and eject themselves mid-flight."

Edit1 - Oh, and this one:
"'I’m just moving fast!' you say. Yeah—straight off a cliff, like a lemming."

Edit2 - More:
"It’s trained on code that’s already an insult to silicon."

"We’re building a world where that curiosity gets lobotomized at the door."

Show threadCiarán McNallyMay 23
@nolan most quotable post I've read in a while 👏
Show threadChristian LinsMay 23
@nolan my child came late to school because I had to finish reading this article…
Show threadMarcos DioneMay 23
@bordfunk @nolan priorities, man. If that school is like my kids', they make them wait there so they can write a note in their parent-teacher communications logbook, as if they're the ones being punished, while it's our fault.
Show threadAndreasMay 23
@nolan AI and copilots do not belong in the hands of uneducated "programmers" like data scientists or physicians
Show threadklegdixalMay 23
@nolan "it's an autocomplete with a superiority complex". My favorite.
Show threadPhil BettsMay 23
@nolan agreed, absolutely stunning writing!
Show threadMensch AntimeierMay 23
@nolan You lil FOMO goblin 🤣 Such a good pet name though.
Show threadÉric BréhaultMay 23

@nolan Infinitely quotable but let's quote it anyway:

"But I just use AI for boilerplate!" you whimper, clutching your Co-Pilot subscription. Listen to yourself. If you’re writing the same boilerplate every day like some industrial-age cog monkey, automate it yourself. Write a library. Invent a macro. Reclaim some dignity.

Just perfect 😂

Show threaddoragasuMay 23
@nolan I like this one: "When you outsource the thinking, you outsource the learning" Simple but effective.
Show threadThe Psychotic Network FerretMay 23
@nolan I hate that it needed to be said, but wow, how very well said.
Show threadSonikkuMay 23

@nolan

I came out of a meeting 45 minutes ago where they were all worshipping Copilot LOL...

What a bunch of yes-men

I still refuse to use it at work- I am not backing down on that.

Show threadMathias HasselmannMay 23

@Sonic2k Have to admit that I've used Copilot in the past to generate initial translations of UI strings. That's a task where it seems useful.

@nolan

Show threadmirabilosMay 23

@taschenorakel @Sonic2k @nolan "seems" being the keyword.

As a Green, please ask yourself if you can live with the ecological impact of that. Ought to be enough to avoid it before even tackling the other points.

Show threadNatasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸May 23

@nolan The fact the author is able to slam dunk on it but also acknowledge the small things it is good for makes this perfect.

I'd have never understood Python as well as GTK concepts this fast (especially GTK) without it, but oh my god I'd never use it to generate more than examples or general overviews of codebases that are new to me. The examples it can generate and "terminology-translations for beginners" it provides are great, but often enough the code is just madness.

Show threadBebe13May 23
@nolan perplexity "shouts out", too, to use AI as a tool not as a compagnon
Show threadDec.tar.gzMay 23

@nolan
It's "Children of the Magenta Line" all over again.
Starting in the 1980s, commercial airline pilots had new layers of cockpit automation to work with, when the Flight Management System was introduced.

The people flying the plane became dependent on all the automation working correctly at all times.
https://airfactsjournal.com/2020/09/stepping-down-in-automation-the-real-lesson-for-children-of-the-magenta-line/

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2023/march/flight-training-magazine/always-learning-magenta-line

The solution was not so much "get out of the cockpit", as cut out the automation as appropriate and fly by hand.
"Click-click, Click-click."

Stepping down in automation—the real lesson for children of the magenta line : Air Facts Journal

Van Vanderburgh and the American Airlines Training Department determined that pilots flying the new automated jets were becoming “Automation Dependent Pilots.” One of Van’s slides defines such a pilot as one who does not select the proper level of automation for the task and loses situational awareness.

Air Facts Journal
Show threadMikelMay 23
@nolan Almost every paragraph has a brilliant quip, love it
Show threadJasper 🍉May 23
@nolan "By writing a routine on Monday, rewriting it Tuesday, and realizing Wednesday it still sucks." i feel seen.
Show threadjn RA, RB (primary opcode 31)May 23
@nolan half-way through the article, i remembered that "copilot" (in aviation) doesn't mean "autopilot"
Show threadmirabilosMay 23

@nolan heh, great points in there to use against apologists:

"But I just use AI for boilerplate!" you whimper, clutching your Co-Pilot subscription. Listen to yourself. If you’re writing the same boilerplate every day like some industrial-age cog monkey, automate it yourself. Write a library. Invent a macro. Reclaim some dignity.

So true:

"I’m just moving fast!" you say. Yeah. Straight off a cliff, like a lemming. AI isn’t helping you build something novel. It can’t. It only knows what’s been done before. It’s autocomplete with a superiority complex.

And the next paragraph even! Yes, we earnt the right to call ourselves programmers.

Kids would stay up all night on IRC with bloodshot eyes, […]

I feel seen.

Because if [GitHub Copilot or equivalent] walked into your stand-up in human form, typing half-correct garbage into your codebase while ignoring your architecture and disappearing during cleanup, you’d fire them before they could say "no blockers".

And that’s the real way managers ought to look at this.

Show threadMorten Ulrik SørensenMay 24
@nolan Come for the perspectives on coding with ai, and stay for the quote worthy rants