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> (No, compilers are not deterministic)

Having used, designed, and written compilers, this is news to me. Please, elaborate.

Suppose I do something myself. I reap all the benefits, but it takes a lot of time, I may not have the expertise to do a good job, and I get all the blame if something goes wrong. Suppose I go to the park and find one of several guys who would do it for free. I get all the of benefits, he might do an excellent job, but, because there's no contract, I still take all the blame.

Suppose I actually hire a professional to do it. I receive fewer of the benefits. However, he's much more likely to do a good job, and the legal system provides a variety of ways to hold him accountable for the work.

Suppose I hire a professional, but then insist that he use legions of guys from the park to do the actual work, since that's going to be some much faster and cheaper per quantum of work. I also tell him that if he's unwilling to do that, I'll find someone who will. I also tell him that, since he has so much more unoccupied time now that the original work is in the hands of all those other dudes, he gets to supervise still more work done by other swarms of guys from the park.

At this point it should be clear that I'm not interested in quality work, but in having someone poised to absorb blame. I want a patsy.

Now replace "guys at the park" with LLMs, and replace "free" with "nearly free, but with no warranty."

My phone is turned off for roughly half my waking hours. The remaining waking hours, I have access to a real computer, or I have reason to not touch a phone or computer at all. A smartphone would be pointless.

EU law only matters to those subject to it.

That's cute. Your records are yours. Barring some agreement to the contrary, I have no right to mess with them or inspect them, even if they contain information about me.

[intentionally blank]

I have decided that I don't want an LLM, or Joe at the bar, to write anything for me. What I do use them for, at different times, is feedback. "Here's a draft of X; where is it weak, and where is it strong?" Or, "Give me your best counterargument." I read or listen to what comes, accepting some parts, defending against others, and dismissing the rest. And then close the tab or walk away. There's time and space between those exchanges and the next time I so much as look at the draft.

> If only a minority is out, they will just be outcast.

My kids do not have a social media presence, we have parental controls set on their devices, and the router only lets them online for a small window of the day. They still manage to communicate with friends via email, shared Google docs, phone calls, and actually meeting up. (Remember when people would agree to meet at a particular time and place, and then just show up with no further discussion? It still works.)

I think they'll be fine.

I wonder, how close can we get to a reasonable simulator for testing software engineering practices before inflicting them onto the real world?