If we do not stop to help each other, what do we become?

(blog.codinghorror.com)

65 points | by signa11 1 hour ago

7 comments

  • altcognito 25 minutes ago
    We had better have even more time to help each other as a result of LLMs, or what are we even doing here?

    I realize that everything seems to be about increasing the pace of life, but this is another "chance" for humanity to figure things out.

    • Arainach 2 minutes ago
      The people who control the LLMs would rather be 0.1% richer than have any/every other person on the planet feel better in any way.
    • vasco 11 minutes ago
      No increases in productivity ever led to less working hours, only organized action. We work more hours than miedeval serfs.
      • isolay 3 minutes ago
        Fewer working hours.
  • Cider9986 45 minutes ago
    On the GrapheneOS forum, I enjoy answering the questions in a post of user who just set up their phone.

    AI does not have as good knowledge of the OS as frequent forum contributors. I'm sure plenty of people get by with AI help for their questions and there's likely little questions that hasn't been already discussed, but I love to see new people using the OS and it doesn't take long to give them an exact answer. The Flarum software that the forum runs is very fast, as well.

  • sciencesama 24 minutes ago
    Every scope of help commoditised. Help for late night drop. Uber ! Need for friendly food door dash !
  • zorpner 41 minutes ago
    Humans are social animals. It's true that not all of these interactions re positive, but so much of what drives us is not even related to acclaim or flattery, but merely interaction in a general sense. In a sense this is one of the true perils of LLM-style interaction (going back to Eliza, I guess) -- that we can not only potentially satisfy that drive mechanically, but do so in a way that's structurally produced by a commercial entity. Do you think that the models talking to you have your best interests at heart? They don't have any interest in you at all.
    • iamnothere 29 minutes ago
      In this sense, running (and heavily tuning) a local LLM could be seen as a form of self-authorship.

      Not that I find them all that useful, still.

  • runarberg 17 minutes ago
    At some point LLM users and proponents have to come to terms with the fact that this has all been a massive theft of labor, including donated labor and mutual aid in forums such as Stack Overflow.

    Such a massive theft of labor will have negative consequences that we all have to live with.

  • popularonion 51 minutes ago
    > I reached out for help. The standard response from everyone fell between ignoring me or telling me I need to "do it myself".

    > You know who did help me? Random strangers on Stack Overflow. People who had nothing to gain from helping me other than just trying to help someone in need.

    This part makes the entire post sound like a parody. Maybe Jeff Atwood has a wicked, self-deprecating sense of humor?

    Yeah no, ask for help on Stack Overflow and you were were more likely to be met with castigation and snide remarks. It was such a breath of fresh air when ChatGPT let us not have to deal with that community anymore.

    • beej71 36 minutes ago
      I dunno man. In it's heyday, SO was pretty fucking awesome. IMHO. Just a massive amount of good information concentrated. And some bad, but a damn sight better than random Google searches even back then.
    • inerte 43 minutes ago
      Plus Stack Overflow was gamified. "Nothing to gain" except 12 different artifacts showing how awesome you are.
    • Forgeties79 16 minutes ago
      ChatGPT also isn’t going to tell you when your idea is a bad one and will happily assist you in your (unknowing) efforts to brick your computer. So there’s that.