Comment by qsort | Hacker News Reader

Comment by qsort | Hacker News Reader

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I commented on this before, I'm in this weird "opinion arbitrage" spot where I'm relatively skeptical by HN standards but I'm actually pushing for more usage at work. Hell, I'm typing this while I wait for Claude to be done.

The reason for my skepticism is the delta between what they're being sold as and what they actually do. All AI solutions, including agents (especially agents!), are effectively worse-than-worthless without guidance from someone experienced. There's very little that's "autonomous" about them, in fact.

The very guy who coined the term "vibe coding" went on stage effectively saying we're putting the carriage before the horse!

Omitting the important caveat that while they are fantastic tools they need to be restrained a lot is effectively lying.

My stance has long been that LLMs are currently worse than the evangelists are claiming they are, but are significantly better than the detractors and skeptics think they are.

Like most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. But unlike many things, they are changing and advancing rapidly, so it's current state is not the resting state.

It's the same problem that crypto experiences. Almost everyone is propagating lies about the technology, even if a majority of those doing so don't understand enough to realize they're lies.

I'd argue there's more intentional lying in crypto and less value to be gained, but in both cases people who might derive real benefit from the hard truth of the matter are turning away before they enter the door due to dishonesty/misrepresentation.

My opinion is that it's about the tools you use. Bad tools, bad agentic behavior.

Better spoons, better food.

Owners of silver spoons tend to eat pretty well.

Spoons are tools you use to consume food; a better analogy would be better kitchen, better food. An induction range, quality good, nice pans, nice knives will definitely enable higher quality food. Of course you can still make crap if you don’t know what you’re doing, the point is that the tools raise the ceiling for someone who does know what they’re doing.

one level deeper... better farm (soil, water, .etc), better food... also you can easily ruin food in a top-of-the-line kitchen by over-processing, adding tainted spices, excessive heat, .etc

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