Jon SterlingJan 26

One thing I love about being involved in my College is I get a direct line on what young people are thinking.

In my circle of 30-50-somethings, it's taken for granted that "AI" is changing everything. Some people express caution that we shouldn't even take any position on software engineering education because it will be out of date within a week.

Meanwhile, my students are telling me that in their cohort, everyone is tired of AI and wants to learn proper software engineering.

One lesson here is: do you remember how clueless your boss was about everything? Recognise when you are in the "boss" demographic, and that your breathless enthusiasm and concern may be equally misinformed.

Show threadJon SterlingJan 26

My point of view is that generative AI is an interesting and powerful technology that has, due to the need to get a return on investment sooner rather than later, been deployed in harmful and counterproductive ways.

I cannot deny the strength of the technology, but I also cannot accept the breathless pronouncements that all seem to rely on assumptions that are emanating from a managerial stratum that has a lot of money and prestige riding on generative AI "breaking" all systems of production.

I find what some people are able to do using generative AI very interesting and inspiring. For example, @mitchellh is building Ghostty (a terminal application) to an extremely high standard of quality. I cannot take an absolutist point of view on this technology.

On the other hand, this technology is being instrumentalised from a nihilistic point of view to destroy so many vitally important cultural achievements. Both of these things are true, and acknowledging this does not make me a centrist.

I will always fight for technology that empowers people, disempowers the pointy-haired bosses of the world, and brings joy. What our students need is less hype and more 'hard engineering' of all kinds. I am endlessly optimistic about what we can do with the current cohort of students who are in some ways wiser than many of their teachers.

Show threadJosh SimmonsJan 26
@jonmsterling the only real point of difference i have there, is that i don't think the technology *can* exist outside the hype cycle. it only even vaguely functions when it's backed by truly colossal hardware resourcing, and only with the tremendous, constant human effort applied running & tuning it. i don't believe it can actually get much better in the current framework, and i don't think the small local models will be able to catch up either.
Show threadJosh Simmons
@jonmsterling if that turns out to be wrong, i'll worry about it when it happens. :')
Jan 26 at 10:08pmPhanpy