sodapopcan

> But I think AI is here to stay and it has already proven useful.

Yes, I said as much. I've said this is two other places in this thread, but when they are talking AI being useful, they aren't just talking about for software development. The software industry is seeing far more AI adoption, by a very large margin, than any other industry, and the success of the current companies hinges on it being heavily adopted everywhere. I don't really care to defend Zitron because he does speak out of his lane far too much, especially when it comes to software, and those are the points the HN crowd latches onto. But that's not the bulk of what he talks about.

> You should probably understand Thomas' comment in part as a reaction to Zitron attacking Thomas

Sure, but an ad hominem is still an ad hominem regardless of one's personal feelings (it took me a good minute to figure out who "Thomas" is).

Otherwise, I agree, and I try not to cite extremists or bullies on either side. I don't even really care that much about defending Zitron, but I do put him on in the background because he does so many podcasts as I find it soothing to listen to someone rant and rave against the tech bro overlords, even if some of the shit he says annoys me. But he does show his work sometimes and wanted to point that out.

> But in a world where AI is a fad like cabbage patch kids and beanie babies

AI will almost certainly not be a fad for software developers, or at the very least for web developers, but it's certainly possible that other industries will look back on "experimental AI days" and chuckle.

Even if there is a financial bubble (that pops), the technology is still not going away.

As for what's next, I dunno. I've heard people talking about similar tech that doesn't use neural nets/etc, but that is out of my wheelhouse.

Casey Muratori, who doesn't use AI, made this point on a podcast. Specifically he said that he doesn't blame web developers for wanting to use AI because it's such a mess of an ecosystem and impossible to keep everything you need to know to be successful in your head.

I'm a web developer to myself who has done zero game or systems programming so I can't speak to that side of it, but you reminded me of it!

While I don't really care one way or another, Zitron isn't arguing AI as a technology is going to fail and go away, but that the numbers of the American companies make no sense and there is a good chance they, or at least some of them, will go away. He does argue that there are large amounts of people who just don't care enough about "AI," and this is likely true. The thing to keep in mind though is that he is not talking about software developers here. What is evident about some of the comments in this thread (and HN comments in general) is that many people on this site seems to think that whenever anyone says anything along the lines of "AI doesn't work for me" that they automatically assume they are talking about "in software development" when they aren't.

Ya, there are already three pure ad hominem comments here with no examples. Zitron isn't even anti-AI per se. He clearly talks out his ass at times (like AI doesn't work for developers... which he's not saying so much anymore, I don't think) but his main talking points are around numbers and profitability.

I feel stainless steel is the simplest, most versatile option that lasts forever. I've never actually tried carbon steel, though. I've had cast iron in the past but I just don't get the hype. They're heavy and require a lot of maintenance. I'm not saying they are bad, of course, it's whatever floats your boat!

Yep! And I don't even bother taking it off or lowering the heat! As soon as the water drops bounce, I throw everything in the pan and it works every time. I make sunny side up and scrambled (and poached, but obviously that doesn't apply here).

I wouldn't call the pro reel-to-reels crap. The imperfections were barely noticeable. Besides, there were other pros to the analogue days, like records having their actual own sound with human imperfections in-tact (unless you had a tonne of money and could afford to spend hours slicing tape). I despise how perfect and same-y everything sounds over the past 20 years. Of course I understand that this is all very subjective, but there just isn't as much access to more raw sounding records as, even very talented musicians who are probably capable of getting great takes which still quantize everything.

But ya ya, old man yells at clouds, I know.

I still record to tape, it's a lot of fun (cassette tape)! There are a bunch of problems to solve that take away from "just being creative" but I don't mind it. Part of that is that it's a forcing factor to improve musicianship because punching in on those consumer four-track machines doesn't really work (even though they have the capability).

I used to feel the same, and I still use a TUI tool, but after working with people who always used the CLI for this (who oddly otherwise were big into IDEs) it's actually an oddly really nice experience and not really any faster or slower. In fact, seeing a hunk at a time has this "focusing" affect on thinking about each change.

Again, though, I still use a visual tool.

This is good comedy. I'm disappointed (annoyed, even) it's not the top comment.

Was it that Apple dude? Ives or whatever? Made a lot of money with his "revolutionary poor design" and we're still paying for it. I could be wrong.

AI image, though.

Don't use grok.

Oh, haha! I actually love shit like this, but ya, not in a blog as I'm also a mouse-fidgetter. You could tone activating it down a bit by only activating it on a quick click and not at all if there is selected text [/END advice-no-one-asked-me-for]

Has it been fixed? What was the effect, I'm so curious now.

This blog's misuse of the external link icon irks me.

I think they must be? Windows 3.1 had depth. Win95 rammped it up in, what we all thought at the time, was a good way.

I have this really fond memory of showing my friend (who is still one of my good friends in adulthood) who had installed XP that he could change the theme "back" to look exactly 95/98/2000. His reaction was this very earnest "I love this..." as he clicked around like he was experiencing again for the first time. Anyway, ya, getting a bit off topic into memory lane, but we just had cool UIs back then.

My (admittedly spontaneous) thought was that we don't see them anymore because flat design make them almost impossible. Even with dividers, it would just look like a grid.

I don't think that more-tabs-that-can-fit-on-one-"line" is ideal, but I think the modern equivalent - horizontal scolling tabs - is waaay friggin' worse. I've been confused by those before whereas the first time I encountered multi-row tabs in the "depth style," I had zero confusion about what I was looking at.

Flat design is so ridiculous. Made someone a bunch of money. Now everyone follows like sheep. Sorry for the doomer comment but, like, really. I'd love to say that I'm surprised that we haven't gotten over this, but given it's been... 20 years (?)... I'm not surprised.

Also, the way multi-row tabs Just Work in the UIs of yesteryear *chef's kiss*

Who said anything about throwing the book away?

GP makes no mention of re-selling. They explicitly talk about revisiting. Your comment would have done better as a standalone as opposed to a response to them.

And not that it matters, but "cross out" doesn't imply "destroy beyond recognition." A simple strike-through is sufficient to keep the text legible (so you remember what it is you disagree with).

At most I would buy that they convinced themselves they cared. It bought them a lot of good will at the time.

> we are the field getting the most out of AI, and it's not even close.

Just emphasizing that as, due to spending far too much time online the past week, I've been seeing a fair bit of this. "AI is definitely gaining popularity because all the software companies I know are going all in on it."

My immediate thought as well.

> nothing these big tech companies hate more than competition

Their users? (Not to be confused with their users' money)

In my fever dream, my hope is that AI indeed will kill SEO and Page Rank search in general and send those of us who still want to visit webpages back to directories. SEO killed the old web AFAIC. Going back to vetted directories of actually useful and serious sites would be lovely.

A boy can dream.

If the numbers are based purely on an account count, or IP count (maybe?) I could see it. Lots of people are forced to use it at work.

Fair. It was indeed a throwaway comment and after I wrote it, medium is the message doesn't exactly work with what you are saying. For example, and author writing a novel on a legal pad, the legal pad is the not the final medium being "consumed."

You wrote all that without mentioning Marshall McLuhan? ;)

Also, I really like your artwork! I've bookmarked that link.