kescusay

kescusay , 8 months ago

That’s horrifying.

kescusay , 8 months ago

I have a feeling that if it can make something highly complex, doing so will require a very high degree of precise and detailed instructions. You know what we call precise and detailed enough instructions to produce a working, sophisticated game?

Code. It’s called code.

kescusay , 8 months ago (edited 8 months ago)

Sigh… No, it’s really not. It’s a neat toy, and cleverly designed, but it’s not actually going to replace any developers.

I don’t think people actually understand how many moving - and disconnected - parts there are in a real application. What that video shows is something that has some built-in generic 2D physics components mashed up with GPT for interpreting drawings combined with text descriptions and guessing what you want from them.

It’s neat. It’s a step up from those JavaScript ragdoll physics games from ten years ago, where you could draw shapes and have stuff bounce off them in interesting ways.

Now tell it to store game saves somewhere. Now tell it to include a login screen, with OAuth integration. Now tell it to synthesize new, unique music - making sure not to violate copyright, of course. Now tell it to render its assets in 2.5D. Now tell it to include score sharing.

See what I mean? We are years - if not decades - away from AI being able to actually fully generate a useful, usable application from scratch, based on nebulous, imprecise instructions and guesswork. There are many, many things it simply can’t do right now, because doing them requires knowledge, and generative AI doesn’t know anything.

kescusay , 8 months ago (edited 8 months ago)

Sure. I actually use AI - well, Copilot - regularly for my job, and I’m well aware of its capabilities. It’s useful.

Every line of code it creates also has to be checked, because it often produces code that either includes hallucinations (e.g., references to functions and methods that don’t exist) or - worse - code that contains no errors as far as the IDE is concerned, but isn’t what I needed.

It’s still helpful. I estimate that it boosts my productivity by around 25% or so, which is huge. But if I were replaced with some MBA - or even a junior dev or intern - because my company became convinced it didn’t need senior developers anymore and someone without my skills could just tell Copilot what to do, they’d either collapse or hire me back within a couple months (and you’d better believe they’d need to offer me the moon for me to accept).

Maybe someday, a large language model can be built that will produce the 100,000 lines of code, in five different repositories, each with its own pipelines, and all the auxiliary configuration files and mechanisms for storing/retrieving secrets and auth tokens and whatnot… that comprise just one of the applications I work on. Maybe.

But that day sure as heck isn’t here yet. Things like Copilot are tools for developers right now, not tools to replace us. Believing they’re capable of replacing us now is as wrong-headed as believing “no-code” tools would replace us fifteen years ago.

I honestly believe there’s a measure of jealousy in declarations that the days of software development by humans are numbered. What we do seems like magic to some people, and I think there’s an urge to demystify us by declaring us obsolete. It happens every few years when there’s something new (something created by developers, ironically) that purportedly does everything we do. Invariably, it doesn’t. If it’s good, like Copilot, it ends up in the toolbox alongside everything else we use. If it’s bad, like “no-code,” it doesn’t.

But until something comes along that can comprehensively see the big picture of a complex application and implement it without human intervention every step of the way, I’m not going to start looking for a job in a different field.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Pretty sure the guy in the video is the developer of that application, and is joking (and hyping his app).

kescusay , 8 months ago

Our industries are completely different, but your story reminds me of my own.

I’m a software developer, and I used to work for one of those companies that does everything in its power to convince you they’re a great place to work except pay competitive software developer wages. Free snacks! Great onsite gym! Cool, open floorplan! Their turnover was high, they had no clear corporate direction, and they didn’t pay what anyone was worth, so there was no loyalty.

I got fired very likely for finding out profits were plummeting and the whole thing was a front for the owner’s side-hustle, a Bitcoin mining operation.

These days, it’s a shell of its former self, and the few people left who I genuinely liked and respected are all looking for other jobs. I have no doubt the owner will eventually end up in prison.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Fox insists henhouse is safe.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Thanks for the reminder, I need to add that to the rules.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Yah no. Apple’s insistence on making everything a pain in the ass if you don’t own an Apple device makes it a nonstarter, and YouTube Music just works.

My kids have iPads because they’re both artists, but I’ll be damned if they’re getting any money from me for their craptacular - and yes, deeply annoying - music service. Hell, even setting up the iPads was annoying, because I don’t have any Apple devices of my own, and family controls require them, even though there’s no reason it couldn’t be done on a website.

Fuck Apple.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Apples and oranges. For all its faults (and there are lots), Microsoft doesn’t require you to own a Microsoft phone or tablet in order to set up an XBox’s parental controls. You can do it from a website with any device you want - including the Linux machines I use almost exclusively for computing.

kescusay , 8 months ago

I’ve used Apple services. My kids have iPads. The parental controls and shared app library controls required for them was a pain in the ass to set up, because there is no web interface for it. You have to use the iOS or MacOS app store for certain steps.

I succeeded only because I managed to get a hold of an old, unused Mac from my work, which I could configure with my Apple account.

kescusay , 8 months ago

You have to have a Mac or iOS device configured with a parent’s account to set up shared apps and parental controls on iPads for kids. That’s because there is no web interface to configure them.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Admittedly it’s been a few years since I messed around specifically with Apple Music, but my recollection is that its recommendations were mediocre, it made playing a full album unreasonably complicated, and its playlist tab was horrible (at least on iOS).

If it’s changed for the better, I’m sure there are plenty of genuine fans, but it lost me pretty permanently with the experience that was available around 2020 or so.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Believe me, if it existed, I would have found it. I spent hours searching, and basically all of Apple’s documentation said you needed to go to your own Mac or iOS device to configure it.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Many online bank sites have built-in budgeting tools these days. Have you checked if yours does?

kescusay , 8 months ago

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

kescusay , 8 months ago

No reason to resist. They’re nifty little things, and if you don’t have heavy computing needs for what you want to do with one, their performance is really good.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Nah. Terrorists who cut people’s heads off can have medical treatment when they surrender.

kescusay , 8 months ago

I never said it was simple. But Hamas murdered completely innocent civilians - including babies - that they actively and intentionally targeted. They are irredeemable monsters.

kescusay , 8 months ago

I don’t like calling them “skeptics,” because what they really are is super-gullible with regards to conspiracy theories.

kescusay , 8 months ago

How’s your reception?

kescusay , 8 months ago

full fash

You mean, they told people they couldn’t spread a dangerous virus to others? How very “fash.”

Fuck that bullshit.

kescusay , 8 months ago

Yeah, I read that summary twice, and decided it was a lot of words to say, “We sell cloud services.”

kescusay , 8 months ago

Oh look, it’s Russia pretending anyone should give a shit what they say. Must be a day ending in “Y.”

kescusay , 8 months ago

Wine is not an emulator. It’s a full implementation of the Windows API, which is why it’s possible to get really good performance out of it in a way that pure software emulation can’t match.

kescusay , 8 months ago

I was hoping someone would spot that. :)

kescusay , 9 months ago

That’s true, but he may very well have died due to a virus the tissue was infected with. There’s no sign this heart has the same issue.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Misread the headline and spent a very brief moment worrying about Billy Corgan’s well-being.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Just in case anyone thinks this is a problem with all electric cars…

I own a Chevy Bolt. It lives in the driveway, as my house doesn’t have a garage. And I live in a city that gets Scotland levels of rainfall. It’s not uncommon for a heavy downpour to leave some low-lying streets with an inch or more of water on them in some places, and that’s perfectly normal here.

My Bolt does just fine in that. I never even considered the idea that I might need to take extra precautions with it because fucking rain might kill its battery.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Best car I’ve owned, without a doubt. I charge it overnight, and never have to even think about range (it’ll do 300 miles in good conditions if driven carefully). Keeping it charged costs a few dollars a month most of the time, unless I’m on a road trip and need to pay for charging on the way - which is still far, far cheaper than paying for gas.

The only downside is that road trips require more planning, because you need to know where you’re going to stop for a charge beforehand, and you need to plan out the time it’ll take to get a decent charge. But that just means making sure you’re going to have lunch or take a break to stretch your legs and walk around where you’ll be charging. Long-distance trips are definitely doable, you just plan them around charging locations.

And it’s impossible to beat the maintenance costs: Nearly $0. Very few moving parts and an electric motor means no oil changes, engine maintenance, and general wear-and-tear are much lower.

It’s a great car.

kescusay , 9 months ago

I don’t think anyone thinks this is a universal problem with Teslas. It’s just a possible case of quality control failure. That said, quality control has been a problem lately.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Who could possibly have predicted this?!?

Oh. Yeah. Anyone with two working brain cells.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Given that we’re already losing entire island nations, I’m not sure even that will do it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiribati

kescusay , 9 months ago

I’ve been a Netflix subscriber for a long time. The ease of use, the broad catalog of weird foreign films and shows, and the kid-friendly content have kept me on board after ditching Hulu, Disney+, and pretty much every other streaming service. And I have the disposable income to make the convenience worth it, even though I’m fully capable of, shall we say, sailing the high seas.

If they do this, I’m dropping Netflix. It’s just not worth it anymore.

Netflix should take the departure of people like me as a canary in the coal mine. If I leave, then other long-term, formerly-happy customers will depart, too. This will be the start of a death spiral.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Great. So once Stack Overflow is dead, where will ChatGPT get actual, correct answers from?

kescusay , 9 months ago

They’ve denied they’re doing this at all, and as near as I can tell, they’re not. The report appears to be incorrect.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Just the statement from MSNBC denying it. But I saw Mohyeldin myself on MSNBC within the last day or so, and the only reason Hassan’s show hasn’t aired is that it’s pre-taped. MSNBC isn’t airing any pre-taped shows right now, with world events being what they are.

If they were airing other pre-taped shows, I’d wonder, but they’re not.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Depends on what you mean by “seeing an ad.” An intrusive video ad on YouTube or another video site, or a bunch of annoying pop-ups? Nope, haven’t seen one in years, either. Non-intrusive banner ads on sites I’ve specifically whitelisted in order to help them financially because I like their content and services? Yeah, seen those, but I don’t mind them, and I never whitelist sites where the ads are intrusive.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Parent, here. My kids wear whatever the hell they want, and because I’m not giving them any reason to rebel, they don’t feel any urge to do that kind of thing.

And if they did for fun or something? I wouldn’t give a shit.

kescusay , 9 months ago

That’s enough. The desperation to defend fucking Hamas - a terrorist organization that has previously cut people’s heads off, in a part of the world where terrorist organizations are well-known for cutting people’s heads off - is getting downright vile.

They did it. Get used to that. You can be opposed to Israel’s actions over the years to oppress and hurt the people of Palestine without defending Hamas. Hamas isn’t Palestine.

kescusay , 9 months ago

That’s a huge freaking problem. Why is it so hard to see, clearly, the evils committed by both parties, here?

My position is easy to express, but apparently too nuanced.

• Israel has a right to exist.
• Israel has a right to defend itself.
• Israel’s right to defend itself does not extend to illegal occupation of Palestinian land and systematic oppression of Palestinians. <– This is the part they’re doing wrong.
• Palestine has a right to exist.
• Palestine has a right to defend itself.
• Terrorist factions in Palestine don’t have a right to exist or commit atrocities against either Israelis or the people of Palestine. <– This is the part they’re doing wrong.

Am I taking crazy pills? Is all that not just blatantly fucking obvious?

kescusay , 9 months ago

Oh man, seeing both the antisemites and the islamophobes pour out of the woodwork has been dismaying. They should not be the ones setting the tone for discussions about this. You can be appalled at the horrors Hamas inflicts on innocent people without declaring that Palestine should be turned to glass, and you can be appalled at the horrors the IDF is inflicting on Palestine in retaliation without going full Hitler.

This whole thing fucking sucks and everyone involved is awful.

kescusay , 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago)

Translation: “If all the civilians leave, we won’t be able to use them as human shields anymore.”

Edit: It’s also true that Israel has made it extraordinarily difficult to leave. They are not the good guys, here. But there are no good guys here except for the civilians, and we know Hamas is a terrorist organization that is perfectly willing to use them as human shields.

kescusay , 9 months ago

No, it’s since been confirmed by numerous news organizations from all over. It happened. Hamas did that.

kescusay , 9 months ago

You’re kidding, right? So IDF soldiers who were interviewed as they were moving bodies out of the kibbutz were just lying?

Don’t do this. Don’t carry water for barbaric, inhuman acts like this. You can support Palestine’s freedom without condoning the beheading of children or trying to convince yourself it didn’t happen. Too many independent reports have corroborated it now. The BBC interviewed individual soldiers who had to deal with the insanity afterwards, and they’ll be scarred for the rest of their lives by what they’ve seen. Don’t belittle it.

And don’t belittle the Palestinian quest for freedom by defending monstrosity done in their name.

kescusay , 9 months ago

Lemmy automatically marks comments from mods as mod comments. This isn’t Reddit. I’m not talking as a mod, I’m just talking as me.

But it’s not IDF propaganda. It’s been confirmed by dozens of news outlets now. It happened. Stop carrying water for people who would do that. Hamas isn’t Palestine.

kescusay OP , 9 months ago

Yeah, although the real trigger for this was the Uttar Pradesh posts. They had zero Onion-y content.

kescusay OP , 9 months ago

Obviously.