SolarBoy

I worked as a software engineer.
AI is supposed to replace programmers, or at least help you write code.

But I never really wrote a lot of code in the first place??
I looked up libraries that do what I need and then wrote a bit of code in-between to link our API or GUI to the right functions of the selected library.

And these libraries were tested, functional and most of all consistent and reliable.

Now what do you want me to do? Ask an non-deterministic LLM to implement the code from scratch every time I need it in my project?
That doesn't makes sense at all.

That's like building a car and every day you ask somebody else to make you a new wheel. And every wheel will be slightly different than the previous. So your car will drive like shit.

Instead, why not just ask a reputable wheel manufacturer to make you 4 wheels? You know they will work. And in the case of programming, people are literally giving away good, reliable wheels for free! (free libraries and APIs)

Why use LLMs at all?

I suppose it would be mostly practical skills, cooking, fixing things. Usually had to be done by people themselves.

Maybe also mental things like navigating (with or without paper map) and remembering their daily and weekly agendas.

What other things would be a big difference with the people today?

I'm currently using an old charger like this:

It's great. Easy to carry with me, uses a two-pin cable so I can easily buy a cheap 2 dollar cable in the country I'm traveling. It's light, and I use a few short (30cm) cables to charge my laptop, phone and other stuff.

I would like to get another one, but it seems like they are no longer sold from the original manufacturer.

I'm searching around online, but the only alternatives I find seem to be very bulky and not easily carried with you. Or they are wall chargers, which is very inconvenient, needing 4 long cables to reach your devices, and often taking up multiple plugs because they are so bulky.

Anybody that knows if these are still sold anywhere? This one is 65W, but with GaN tech, I expected to see more of these compact chargers with the same weight and thickness outputting maybe 100W. But I can't find anything

I've been thinking about how LLMs like ChatGPT change the expectation that at any time, anywhere, you will have the information you need at your fingertips.

It seems useful to cope with some difficulties in life at the beginning. (Similarly to having a smartphone with you at all times)

But over time it seems to increase anxiety because you feel dependent on these tools to be able to handle certain situations.

Every time I avoid using these tools but instead try to use a simple notebook or just think things through in my mind (When possible of course, definitely not when overwhelmed) . I feel like my capacity to do so slightly increases in future situations.

But when using these tools, even though it's easier and requires less effort in that moment, I feel more anxious in the future. (Especially when I don't have internet connection or my battery is running low)

Does anyone else have similar experiences?