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Comment by true2octave | Hacker News Reader

> It's probably fine--unless you care about self-improvement or taking pride in your work.

I’m hired to solve business problems with technology, not to self-improve or get on my high horse because I hand-wrote a silly abstraction layer for the n-th time

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And you/we will be replaced by an AI that will solve the business problem (the day they get so good to actually do that, which might happen or not but... who knows?)

And the person that hand-writes the code won't be replaced?

Yes, as well.

There aare probably 2 ways to see te future of LLMs / AI: they are either going to have the capabilities to replace all white collar work, or they are not.

If you think they are going to replace us, then yo ucan either surrender or fight back, and personally I read all these anti-AI posts as fighting back, to help people realize we might be digging our own grave.

If, OTOH, you see AI as a force-multiplier tool that's never going to completely replace a human developer then yes, probably the smartest thing to do is to learn how to master this new tool, but at the same time keep in mind the side effects it might bring, like atrophy.

My personal goal has been to dig that grave ever since I could hold a shovel.

We've always been in the business of replacing humans in the 3-D's space (dirty, dangerous, dull... And to be clear. data manipulation for its own sake is dull). If we make AI that replaces 90% of what I do at my desk every day... We did it. We realized the dream from the old Tom Swift novels where he comes up with an idea for an invention and hands the idea off to his computer to extrapolate it, or the ship's computer in Star Trek acting like a perfect engineering and analytical assistant to take fuzzy asks from humans and turn them into useful output.

The problem is that this time, we're creating a competing intelligence that in theory could replace all work, AND, that competing intelligence is ultimately owned/controlled by a few dozen very rich guys.

They aren't going to willingly spread the wealth.

Realistically I think the only way to fight back is unions.

I really really hope an AI will do this work and solve all the “business problems” so I can go and be a goat herder

Go herd goats. You don't need to wait for AI to destroy your livelihood.

Yeah, but there's nothing like some sweet, sweet justification.

Herding goats doesn't solve the interesting technical problem I'm trying to solve.

Point is: if that problem is solvable without me, that's the win condition for everyone. Then I go herd goats (and have this nifty tool that helps me spec out an optimal goat fence while I'm at it).

> Point is: if that problem is solvable without me, that's the win condition for everyone.

The problem is solvable without you. I don't even need to know what the problem actually is, because the odds of you being one of the handful of the people in the world who are so critical that the world notices their passing is so low, I have a better chance of winning a lottery jackpot than of you being some critical piece of some solution.

I completely disagree - I think it’s the other way around.

Solving the problem - no matter what problem it is - is extremely dependent on you and every single human being (or animal for that matter) is a critical piece of their environment and circumstances.

I need that sweet AI-enabled UBI first to do it comfortably

I was thinking of buying land and planting beetroot, which I would be picking by hand, cutting into thin plasters and freeze-drying for sale.

I have buy-in from a former co-worker with whom I remained in touch over the years, so there will be at least two of us working the fields.

I unironically have a 5 year plan to get out of tech and into something more “real”. I want to work on something that helps actual humans not these “business problems”

I'm skeptical of claims like this.

After all, you can go and be a goat herder right now, and yet you are presumably not doing this.

Nothing is stopping you being a goat herder - the place that is paying you for solving business problems will continue just fine if you leave, after all. Your presence there is not required.

See my replies below - as often on HN you assume too much and construct a made up person to get mad at:

- first the place that is paying me to solve problems will NOT be just fine when I suddenly leave

- second I need UBI or some AI-enabled utopia to be ushered in to live comfortably as goat herder

- third I do have a concrete plan to get out, but it will take me a couple of years to realise

> - first the place that is paying me to solve problems will NOT be just fine when I suddenly leave

Yes they will!

No one, not even the chief officers or the shareholders of a company are irreplaceable. Well, maybe you're the only tech guy in a 5-company outfit?

They'll replace you just fine.

> - second I need UBI or some AI-enabled utopia to be ushered in to live comfortably as goat herder

Well, that's not really relevant to your assertion, is it?

>>> I really really hope an AI will do this work and solve all the “business problems” so I can go and be a goat herder

After all, UBI as an outcome is not dependent on AI solving all the business problems you currently solve.

IOW, whether UBI comes to pass or not is completely independent of "AI takes our jobs".

The chief officers and/or shareholders are probably the ones who are the most replaceable….

AI utopia is not needed for UBI that is true - but it will be much easier to become reality if “all the jobs” are taken.

Aside from all the snark - I think that the fundamental societal problem is that there will always be some shitty jobs that no one wants to do and there needs to be some system to force some people to do these jobs - call it capitalism, communism, or marriage. There is no way around this basic fact of the human condition

I love to code, like fun code, solving a relatively small concrete problem with code feels rewarding to me....however, writing business code on the other hand? Not really.

I do however, love solving business problems. This is what I am hired for. I speak to VP/managers to improve their day to day. I come up with feasible solution and translate them into code.

If AI could actually code, like really code(not here is some code, it may or may not work go read documentation to figure out why it doesn't), I would just go and focus on creating affordable software solutions to medium/small businesses.

This is kind of like gardening/farming, before industrial revolution most crops required a huge work force, these days with all the equipment and advancements a single farmer can do a lot on their own with small staff. People still "hand" garden for pleasure, but without using the new tech they wouldn't be able to compete on a big scale.

I know many fear AI, but it is progress and it will never stop. I do think many devs are intelligent and will be able to evolve in the workplace.

For me AI is really powerful autocomplete. Like you said, I wrote the abstraction years ago. Writing the abstraction again now is not required.

A time and place may come where the AI are so powerful I’m not needed. That time is not right now.

I have used Rider for years at this point and it automatically handles most imports. It’s not AI, but its one of the things that is just not needed for me to even think about.

I agree, I was always annoyed in projects where these kids thought they were still in school and spinning up incredible levels of over abstraction that led to some really horrible security problems.

> I’m hired to solve business problems with technology, not to self-improve or get on my high horse because I hand-wrote a silly abstraction layer for the n-th time

So, this "solve business problems" is some temporary[1] gig for you?[2]

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[1] I'm reminded of the anti-union people who are merely temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

[2] Skills atrophy. Maybe you won't need the atrophied skill in the future, but how sure are you that this is the case? The eventual outcome?

Are you a consultant? Because otherwise there’s a thing called a “career ladder”, and you are very much being paid to self-improve. And if you don’t, that’s going to feature prominently in your next promotion review.

and a teacher is hired to teach, but some self-improve so they may become headmaster

Maybe you become worse at solving business problems with technology once you let that muscle atrophy?

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