Sometimes I read something on the internet and I think: finally someone has articulated something the way that I think about it. And it is very validating. And it cuts through a bunch of noise about how "oh you should be tuning and tweaking this prompt and that" and really speaks to the human experience. Thanks for this.
Same. After using AI for too long I get the same mental feeling as I do when scrolling endlessly on YouTube, a listless empty purposeless feeling that I find difficult to break out of without a whole night's rest.
Programming was very meditative and fulfilling experience for me, "building something" whatever it is, now I can see it slipping through my fingers.
You know the feeling of starting a new mmorpg video game? The first time you enter a new world, you dont know what to do, where to go, there is no "optimal" way to play it, there are no guides, you just try things and explore and play and have fun. Every new project I start I have this feeling.
Few years later the game is a chore, you have daily quests, guides and optimal strategies and simmulations and if you dont play what elitistjerks say you are doing it wrong.
> Programming was very meditative and fulfilling experience for me, "building something" whatever it is, now I can see it slipping through my fingers.
I've been characterizing it to others as the difference between hand-carving a post for a bed frame vs. letting a CNC mill do it. The artistry-labor is lost, and time-savings are realized. In the process, the meditation of the artist, the labor and blood, sweat, and tears are all lost.
It isn't 'bad', but it has this dulling effect on my mind. There's something about being involved at a deep level that is satisfying and uplifting to my mind. When I cede that to a machine, I have lost that satisfaction.
Some years ago, I noticed this same issue just looking at typing vs. hand-writing things. I _think_ very differently on paper than I do typing at a terminal. My mind is slow and methodical with a pen, as if I actually have time to think. At a keyboard, I am less patient, more prone to typing before I think.
I’m the opposite. I’d rather spend more time in a flow-like state where I’m dreaming of possibilities and my thoughts come to life quickly and effortlessly.
I often find tools frustrating because they are imperfect and even with the best tools you inevitably have to break from your flow sometimes to do stuff in a more manual way.
If a tool could take care of building while I remain in flow I’d be in heaven.
That’s interesting because i love computers and parts of programming. Algorithms are fascinating and I get a deep sense of satisfaction when my program works.
But at the same time I find programming to be a frustrating experience because I want to spend as much time as possible thinking about what I’m trying to build.
In other words I’d rather spend time in the dream-like space of possibilities, and iterating on my thoughts quickly than “dropping down” to reality and thinking through how I’m actually going to build it, what algorithms to use, how to organize code, etc.
Because of that I’ve found vibe coding to be enjoyable even if it’s not perfect.
Perhaps you're confusing enjoyment with necessity. Iteration is necessary to build a good game, but I want to minimize iteration time as much as possible so I can finish the game.
In that sense, the process is the enemy. A long, laborious process kills games.
A while ago I suggested "doom prompting", also from "doom scrolling", but it was for a slightly different mental effect: "It's so close, just one more and it might be exactly right".
Wonder if you've tried spec driven development (as opposed to just prompting)?
I used to create requirement-oriented prompts and I felt something similar to what you describe. However, I've switched to generating parts of my source code from my specs in a semi-automated way and it made the process much more pleasant (and efficient, I think).
I wrote a bit about my current state here: https://alejo.ch/3hi - for my Duende project I generate 8821 lines of code (2940 of implementation, 5881 of tests) from 1553 lines in specifications.
> And it cuts through a bunch of noise about how "oh you should be tuning and tweaking this prompt and that" and really speaks to the human experience. Thanks for this.
I guess if you see everything that doesn't agree with your world view as noise then I can see your point.
Totally agreed. And as the sibling comment points out, it started before AI slop became a thing. I think it's because technological progress in typesetting means you don't have to "care" as much (it is automatic). Of course as a result, this means modern typesetting is "careless".
But of course there is a physical one, that at some point appears. Or, it is a kind of gradation that at its highest peak is a human, and at its deepest depths is...
I didn't say I wasn't a materialist :). It's important for consciousness philosophers to have a sense of humour, I think (and remember the shortcomings of their own arguments).
"The perfect should not be the enemy of the good" is the wrong analogy here. It's more like "death by a thousand cuts". Limitations on free computer usage are like a ratcheting mechanism: they mostly go in one direction.
When I moved to London I used to love listening to ambient electronic music and taking the tube at night, and many of the quieter lines and back routes up emergency staircases and so on evoke what I suspect is a similar feeling (at least I think it's similar because it too reminds me of the HL aesthetic).
I wonder if growing up with particular kinds of video game experiences produces a particular affinity with certain situations in real life.
I think places like these take on totally different feelings for people who actually have to live or work with them (like the author) versus people who are just passing through. They're a lot less... romantic... when they're your daily life, but that by no means makes your connections weaker. Just different, in a way that's really hard to reify. At least for me.
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