Mastodawn

RE: https://mstdn.ca/@drikanis/116107120926277506

I'd like to comment on the common "AI is just a tool" thing: I'm a woodworker by training & that means a lot of machines - but almost every craftsperson knows how to do their job with hand tools, or "lesser" machines.

Similarly, a writer can write without a text editor - just as well, only slower.

If loss of a tool = loss of your skill & knowledge, then that tool isn't an asset, it's a liability. You're signing over your ability to do business to whoever sells & maintains that tool.

#AI

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Artemis Feb 22

@jwcph Funnily enough I wanted to kind of challenge you with saying that it's unlikely a programmer would be able to write a complex program "by hand" (using assembly) but... a sufficiently motivated programmer probably could. It would be an absolutely miserable experience, you'd have to invent a lot from the first principles, but in the end it's all system calls and the documentation is out there.

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fedithom Feb 22

@art_codesmith

The point was, that vibe coders can't "code" at all without AI. And pre-AI, people already wrote software. So ... What was your point again?

@jwcph

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Artemis Feb 22

@fedithom @jwcph My point is that you can apply similar logic to compilers and programming languages. If you’re proficient at making web apps in Python, you maybe *could* make one in assembly, but it would take a lot of time and effort and, as I said, would probably not be a good experience.

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Ricardo Harvin Feb 22

@art_codesmith @[email protected] @jwcph

"If you're not mining and refining the materials and building the chips..."

You're conflating different scenarios to the point of absurdity.

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Artemis

@ricardoharvin @jwcph Maybe? I don't know. It was defnitely not my intention.
Maybe I've read too deep into this but, for me, writing in assembly is the best analogy for woodworking with manual tools.
Using a high-level language would be like working with well-developed power tools.
(Using AI... well, the advocates think that it's like working with a super-fancy programmable machine but the motors are busted and the tolerances are between "frick" and "all".)