I do read the commits and really try to understand what the model is trying to do. However, I think this conflicts against what we are really trying to do here:
- We want to code faster so we use LLMs
- We want to still be in charge, so we spend a lot of time reading and understanding every single commit and review PRs.
Before, we used to build a mental model of the code with every new line of code we wrote. That took time, but the result was a very solid understanding. Now we try to build the mental model by just looking at what the LLM produces. Similar to how students who spend most of their time practicing what they are studying with actual exercises achieve higher grades than those who just read the book, we are now at a disadvantage against our old selves who made the effort of writing the code.
Moreover, an LLM produces code a lot faster than we can read and understand. If we want to achieve an actual speedup in code output, there's no way we can read and understand everything and be faster than before. We have to sacrifice the understanding of some parts. This compounds over time and we quickly get into a place of total reliance on LLMs.
Regarding addiction: I also think these devices are addictive. They do open a lot of new doors for us builders. But I think hour grey matter hardware is not built of this speed. Give it time, the more project ideas you start spinning up, the sooner you'll reach burnout.