[ileonichwiesz]

Maybe it’s just psychology at work, but I see a huge difference between that time 15 years ago when I wrote my first useful script, and that time last week when an LLM spat out a piece of code to solve an issue I had.

The former made me so proud. My learning had paid off, and maybe there was nothing I couldn’t do. I had laid my pattern of thought onto the machine and made it do my bidding through sheer logic and focus. I had unlocked something special.

The latter was just OpenAI opaquely doing stuff for me while I watched a TV show in the background. No focus or logic was really necessary. I probably learned something from this, but not nearly as much as I could’ve if I actually read the docs and tried it myself.

I’ve also dabbled in art and design over the years, and I recognise this as the same difference as between painting something you’re truly proud of and asking Midjourney to generate you some images.

Then again, maybe that’s just how technological progress works. My great-great-grandmother was probably really proud and happy when she sewed and embroidered a beautiful shirt, but my shirts come from a store and I don’t really think about it.