CyclesBecauseSummerIsComing😀6h ago
cholling
For years I've been hearing that "One day AI will be smarter than humans and we'll all be doomed."

"Nonsense," I said. "AI is very stupid, and not getting noticeably smarter." And I was right.

But I didn't think about the fact that there were two ways that prophecy could be fulfilled.
Jan 28, 2025 at 7:39pmWeb
Show threadcholling1d ago
For some reason, my year-old pinned post is doing the rounds, so I might as well add a shameless plug in case anyone's hiring an artisanal, LLM-free software developer.

RE: bytes.programming.dev/notes/ah0j7hoiexdglzvo
Show threadMatthew Newell8h ago

@cholling

How has industry attitude to your, quite understandable, red lines changed in 12 months.

Show threadcholling2h ago
@MatthewNewell As far as I can tell, industry is even more pro-AI, because management has no idea where the actual bottlenecks of software development are or what needs to be optimized, and thinks the main cause of low velocity is "developers can't write code fast enough" rather than "developers trying desperately to get management to give them the resources they need and prioritize what's actually important instead of moving goalposts every sprint to the next new shiny thing". Then the whole "agentic" fad, where they think that the solution to a language model that doesn't actually understand anything is giving that same model unfettered access to your whole computer or even deploy pipeline, which I'm sure will end well.

Maybe I should just open a bakery.
Show threadMatthew Newell2h ago

@cholling

I was hoping, from my very outside perspective, that the industry ardour for AI might have cooled.

Baking is good. But to be excluded from an industry one is trained for due to management failure to recognize the emperor's new clothes must be galling.

I can offer nothing apart from boosts and wishes of good luck

Show threadCeridwen2d ago
@cholling we are entering the realm of the salesman and telephone sanitizers.
Show threadDan Sugalski1d ago
@cholling the realization that the “and” in there is connecting but not correlating two entirely separate statements is… not a reassuring one.
Show threadcholling1d ago
@wordshaper Not sure which of the three "and"s you're referring to?
Show threadThe cat who walks thru walls11h ago

@cholling @wordshaper

All the ands!
...
Contemplate all the ands!
...
The ands are no lie!
...
The ands justify the meanings!

(no, I have no idea what that last one means either; I stretched it too far and it snapped)

Show threadDan Sugalski10h ago

@cholling In the warning "One day AI will be smarter than humans and we'll all be doomed."

Two independent statements (judging from the current race-towards-doom which is independent of AI) joined with a conjunction implying but not guaranteeing correlation. :)

Show threadcholling2h ago
@wordshaper That depends on your definition of the word "and".
Show threadCalcedony Prime1d ago
@cholling It's already smarter than some humans, the ones who think AI needs to be pushed everywhere to do everything.
Show threadsynlogic424223h ago
@cholling lol. we assumed the I in AI was for intelligence. perhaps its idiocy
Show threadYora15h ago

@cholling AI doesn't hurt anyone. AI has no malicious intent.

Billionaires hurt us and want to enslave us.

Show threadFirehorseart Lives!11h ago

@yora @cholling

Guns don't hurt people, people do.

Hurt people hurt people.

AI tech has become a stick to beat people with but the reasons remain the same.

Show threadYora10h ago
@srfirehorseart @cholling Taking away their current stick helps short term, but ultimately they will keep picking up more sticks until we make them stop.
Because they will never stop themselves.
Show threadFirehorseart Lives!8h ago

@yora @cholling

Yes, because billionaires don't value empathy, compassion or any behaviour that doesn't directly benefit themselves.*

They also won't accept therapy for their anger at the world.

Unfortunately Western society rewards their selfish behaviour with more power and money, so they'll never feel the need to stop.

*I.e. Narcissists

Show threadYora7h ago
@srfirehorseart @cholling They are parasites.
Show threadcholling7h ago
@yora @srfirehorseart We can do more than one thing. I can put out the fire in my house and still pursue the arsonist who set it on fire.
Show threadKevin Karhan11h ago
@cholling +1
Show threadRevK 10h ago
@cholling Ooooh, yes, and some people are working hard for the other way it can work I think.
Show threaddstu10h ago
@cholling there's a line from Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End" that has haunted me since I read it: "He had always been a good piano player, and now he was the best in the world."
Show threadReginald10h ago

@cholling Related:

Turing was wrong, his test doesn't determine whether machines are intelligent, it determines whether humans are credulous.

Show threadMarsh Ray8h ago

@raganwald @cholling Bullshit.

Turing proposed the ‘Imitation Game’ specifically as a better-posed alternative to such questions, which he called “absurd”.

Show threadcholling3h ago
@marshray @raganwald No matter what Turing wanted it to measure, what it actually measures is how easily people can be tricked to think something is intelligent.
Show threadMarsh Ray3h ago
@cholling Sorry if it wasn't clear, that was in reply to the "Turing was wrong" claim here:
https://social.bau-ha.us/@raganwald/116403210849831335
Show threadDarkas Vim10h ago
@cholling
Alot of us forget to factor in the depths of stupidity human intelligence can sink to. 😅
Show threadNeil Moffatt5h ago

@cholling There should have been widespread alarm and corresponding action by decision makers with that snowballing of mental atrophy online and then with AI.

But too little too late seems to be. apolitical norm.

Professor friend (very approachable in coffee shop where I go!) says masters students frequently use AI for essays. So he now talks with them more to assess understanding. Most are petrified as social one-to-one skills also atrophied. Or simply not developed.