Tony AldridgeMar 13
Daniël Franke 

I sometimes wish I cared little enough about the ethical implications of the things I use to not hate everything LLMs represent right now. It feels like my world view is constantly under siege... Under siege by people with more money than god, using this technology to make the biggest attempt at enclosing mental commons I've seen in my lifetime. Under siege by people who never look further than the next shiny toy, seemingly ignoring the damage that using that toy, or even just tolerating that toy, has on the world.

It's just making me very tired...

Mar 13 at 8:24amWeb
Show threadAral BalkanMar 13
@ainmosni 🫂 You’re not alone.
Show threadPaul Wilde    Mar 13
@aral @ainmosni 100% with you
Show threadAndreeaMar 13
@ainmosni same, and I also feel like a hostage whenever I read world news nowadays. Under siege is another great way to describe it.
Show threadAndrew FranceMar 13

@ainmosni feel exactly the same here. I can list out all the costs of LLMs to good smart friends only to hear back "yeah, but, it writes emails for me faster without mistakes".
Or how the majority of developers I speak to are so enthused 🤩 about it, when all I can see is the stolen work and future harms slowly coming to fruition.

I guess this is how environmentalists have felt since the 80s. Almost no one really cares about abstract concepts enough to not do the bad things.

Show threadDaniël Franke Mar 13
@Odaeus I'm not convinced the majority of developers are so enthused, but definitely more than in other places. I think there's a third who are big proponents, a third who might or might not like it but have no strong feelings outside of that, and a third who abhor it.
Show threadflere-imsaho 🇺🇦Mar 13

@ainmosni precisely my feelings. i have already had one bout with burnout too many, and this is seriously not helping.

if it weren't for the mortgage and the bills, i'd probably take a break until the next ai winter.

Show threadDavid CulleyMar 13

@ainmosni Life seems easier when you don't care or have no morals.

But most people aren't psychopaths/sociopaths. They are biologically wired to feel guilt and remorse.

But since it's near impossible to not notice the implications of your unethical behaviour—there's always a news report or colleague who reminds you how unethical it is—these people have to spend enormous mental energy to convince themselves that it's actually fine not caring about ethics. Whether they consciously realize that or not. That's a cost too.

So, either way you have to pay a mental cost.

- Rationalize how it's okay to be unethical because (you don't have time for ethics/your use case is more important and justifies it/…) because unlike a psychopath, you're not incapable and thus freed of feeling guilt.
- Feel what you are feeling. I'm in your camp too.

Hug. 🫂

Show threadDeveloping Stacy Mar 13

@ainmosni

Ignorance might not be bliss, but at least it's ignorance. Understanding is a heavy burden.

Show threadDaniel GibsonMar 13

@ainmosni
I decided that my stance towards is that I can't afford being left behind...

... by letting LLMs deskill me.

Everyone can vibecode, even [insert your local guy who can't program or is bad at it and is enthused about vibecoding]. That's who you compete with if you lose your programming skills, like you inevitably do when letting bullshit machines generate code for you instead of coding yourself.