Hacker News Reader

Comment by lsaferite | Hacker News Reader

I've never heard the term "load-bearing" used outside of the civil engineering world until the more recent versions of Claude suddenly decided everything was "load-bearing".

Did you internalize Claude terminology, use Claude to write/translate your post, or lead Claude into temptation by being the OG?

Asking out of genuine curiosity and not at all trying to throw shade.

View on HN

"Load bearing beliefs" is a thing in the podcast/YouTube world at a minimum. Perhaps you're not as online as some other folks (probably a good thing!).

I watch a lot of tech adjacent YT videos mostly. I really haven't heard this being used. So weird the different bubbles we all live in and just don't realize. Is the usage recent or historic? What contexts is it used in? Is it common in American English, British English, or one of the several other groupings?

Sounds like it grew out of the rationalist community (eww), and got picked up by various podcasters as it became a phase du jour.

See https://www.yuzeh.com/etc/2021-01-24-beliefs-as-structures - folks have been using it for a while now.

Now everyone is saying "hits different", and that one drives me crazy. Old man problems.

I have heard it in the way that Claude uses it going way back. Since I have to use Anthropic models for work, and they use that term prodigiously, it's been added to the list of "perfectly fine phrases that have been ruined" to me. It's really frustrating too because I don't know what other phrase I would use.

I don't suppose you recall where you picked it up? I really am curious on this, regardless what all the downvoters happen to think. The linguistics that surface in the training mixed with the system prompts is really interesting. Annoying as well, but still interesting.

Technically not civil engineering but similarly enough in the home-reno space. You can knock down a retaining wall relatively willy-nilly but a load-bearing wall needs a replacement thought out ahead of time.

So extended to concepts it always seemed a natural fit. I think where I picked it up in this regard was when used to describe Religion, in that you don't necessarily need the religions we have to "fill the god hole" but you need something of similar fortitude in order to maintain balance. The idea is that you can't just remove religion and then not replace it because it bears so much weight.

"does some heavy lifting"

You could use the word "important"

Yeah the stupid machine could have picked "let us circle back" or something but nope.

No. I do use the term.

I'm curious where you picked it up originally. I've been mystified why Claude started using it so much.

I’ve been using it in the tech space for many years now, no idea where I picked it up. Also this is the first I’ve heard Claude is using it!

It's funny you're being grumped at about it, but yeah "load-bearing" outside of civil eng is my "nails on a chalkboard" slop signal. Well, one of many.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com