Comment by Kevin_Flynn | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Kevin_Flynn | Hacker News Reader

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AI doesn't care how we feel. Neither do table saws. Both are tools that exist, and we have the option to use them or not. Neither are useful for every task, and if you enjoy playing Minecraft under self imposed restrictive tool usage rules, you can still do that.

If you just enjoy the sheer problem solving dimension of software development, and never intend to ship or use anything, and want to do pure research, go ahead. If its never being shared or released and its just going to die with you, then its by definition "inconsequential" and how you feel about it is your business.

Relocating to a new environment, when the old one no longer suits you, is an adaptation.

From what little I've studied history, it seems emotions run high among the population when truly disruptive technologies have emerged. Some are enthusiastic, some are terrified, some number of workers are displaced, etc etc etc.

Everything changes. Nothing changes.

I proposed to a co-worker 30 years ago the question "I wonder if software will someday write itself ? Like recursion ? A program that writes a program ?"

He burst out in laughter and called me an idiot.

At this point, I can conclude the idea made him anxious, and I'm probably not a complete idiot. V

> AI doesn't care how we feel. Neither do table saws. Both are tools that exist, and we have the option to use them or not.

Of course. That you felt this was necessary to say makes me worry that I've misunderstood your point. I thought you were saying, basically, "suck it up, buttercup". That a dev should be perfectly happy using the new tools because they don't really change the goal. Specifically this line:

> Well, yes, it has, and the question is not whether you are okay with it or not, but, rather, how are you going to adapt to the enviroment you inhabit that just changed ?

My response is that the question absolutely is whether you are OK with it or not. The question of adaptation only becomes relevant once you've decided that you are (or that you are willing to have faith that you will be).

> If you just enjoy the sheer problem solving dimension of software development, and never intend to ship or use anything, and want to do pure research, go ahead.

That's not at all what I was saying. What I was saying is that these things are multidimensional, and to boil them down to just one thing (be it shipping or anything else) oversimplifies and thus distorts the view of developer satisfaction, and to treat it as unidimensional will make it very hard to understand or address any issue of dissatisfaction.

One of the "goals" of being a dev, be it individual or on a team, is indeed to ship a good solution. But that's very far from the only legitimate goal.

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