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SecretDreams | on: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder
I feel like it's such a lack of self respect and respect for others when people write using AI on personal blogs.

Reading AI code is very pleasant. It's well annotated and consistent - how I like to read code (although not how I write code LOL). Reading language/opinions is not meant to be this way. It becomes repetitive, boring, and feels super derivative. Why would you turn the main way we communicate with each other into a soulless, tedious, chore?

I think with coding it's because I care* about what the robot is doing. But, with communication, I care about what the person is thinking in their mind, not through the interpretation of the robot. Even if the person's mind isn't as strong. At least then I can size the person up - which is the other reason understanding each other is important and ruined when you put a robot in between.

beej71 | parent | next
It's also because we (generally) consider a blog to be human communication and we consider math and programs to be something else.

If you're talking to someone on the phone and halfway through they identify themselves as a bot, surprising you, there's a profound sense of something like betrayal. A moment ago you were having a human connection, and suddenly that vaporized. You were misled and were just talking to an unfeeling robot.

And heartfelt writing is similar. We imagine the human at the other side of the screen and we relate. And when we discover it was a bot, no matter how accurate the sentiment, that relationship vanishes.

But with math and software, it's already sterile from a human connection perspective. It's there for a different purpose. Yes, it can be beautiful, but when we read it we don't tend to build a human connection with the coder.

An interesting exception is comments. When we read the fast inverse square root code and see the "what the fuck..." comment, we instantly relate to the person writing the software. If we later learned that comment was generated by an LLM, we'd lose that connection, again.

IMHO. :)

SecretDreams | root | parent
Totally agree. I'll extend this to email and slacks, too. I cannot stand getting AI written slop from fellow co-workers because they couldn't write the message themselves. Do not even bother to engage with me if you need to put your thoughts through an AI first. It won't go well. People gotta work on themselves a lot more and I think they're using AI to do the opposite.
lelanthran | parent
> I feel like it's such a lack of self respect and respect for others when people write using AI on personal blogs.

Not so sure about the respect aspect: I have lots of self-respect, but I don't generally broadcast respect for random other people when I write my blogs - the most recent one even called readers stupid, IIRC!

I feel it's more a matter of expression of contempt: if you can't be bothered to write it, WTF are you expecting people to read it?

SecretDreams | root | parent
If you're writing an online blog with the intention that people are to read it, there should be some semblance of respect for their time and respect for your craft. IMO.