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by bsoles 136 days ago
Over the last 25 years of building commercial software, but being a programming enthusiast since I was 15 years old, I came to the conclusion that self-improvement (in the sense of gaining real expertise in a field, building a philosophy of things, and doing the right things) is in direct opposition to creating "value" in the corporate/commercial sense of today.

Using AI/LLMs, you perhaps will create more commercial value for yourself or your employer, but it will not make you a better learner, developer, creator, or person. Going back to the electronic calculator analogy that people like to refer to these days when discussing AI, I also now think that, yes, electronic calculators actually made us worse with being able to use our brains for complex things, which is the thing that I value more than creating profits for some faceless corporation that happens to be my employer at the moment.

1 comments

Why are you so certain that LLMs/AI can't be used as a tool to learn and grow?

Like Herbie Hancock once said, a computer is a tool, like an axe. It can be used for terrible things, or it can be used to build a house for your neighbor.

It's up to people how we choose to use these tools.

Just putting it out there, not really interested in exercising the metaphor. I tend to be able to own my tools, these are closer to services.
> Why are you so certain that LLMs/AI can't be used as a tool to learn and grow?

Because every other post in here, for example, starts with "I vibe coded..." and not with "I learned something new today on ChatGPT".

I’m vibe coding apps that help me explore stuff and learn things. That’s their specific purpose.
Maybe people that learn stuff from AI aren't the type to enthusiastically make posts about it?