5 ms·

> every technical profession getting disrupted to oblivion Where is this disruption? The longer we go, the more people report that the supposed net-gain of eas

> every technical profession getting disrupted to oblivion Where is this disruption? The longer we go, the more people report that the supposed net-gain of easily 100s of percents is not visible. I do strongly believe "It's just a tool" - A powerful one, but not one like the invention of the steam machine.

spaceman_2020 2mo ago
All I see is a flattening of the technical curve. Which is great, but the number of people who want to download an app is still the same. So all you have is 100,000 apps with no users instead of 10,000 apps with no users You increased the amount of code written by 10x but unless there’s a 10x increase in demand, its worth nothing
CircuitSeuss 2mo ago
https://www.frank.computer/blog/2025/05/just-a-tool.html https://www.frank.computer/blog/2025/05/just-a-tool.html
don_esteban 2mo ago
Actually, I think that the analogy with the steam engine is a very good one. Prior to the steam engine, almost all energy used by the human civilization has been generated by human and/or animal muscles. Yes, there have been other (water/wind mills, sailing boats), but the application of those has been rather limited to very specific tasks and/or locations. Prior to current AI, almost all 'mental' work has been done by human minds. There have been some intrusion by calculators/computer systems, but their applicability has been rather limited. AI promises to do to mental labour what steam engine (and later power tools) did for manual labour. (Including the atrophy of muscle/mind ...) Regarding 'It's just a tool': How much emphasis do you put on 'just'? Starting to use a new tool (especially if it is a powerful one) has many downstream consequences, and 'how' the tool is used (not only by an individual, but as a society as a whole) matters a lot.

5 ms·

> every technical profession getting disrupted to oblivion Where is this disruption? The longer we go, the more people report that the supposed net-gain of eas

by misterderpie 2mo ago

spaceman_2020 2mo ago
All I see is a flattening of the technical curve. Which is great, but the number of people who want to download an app is still the same. So all you have is 100,000 apps with no users instead of 10,000 apps with no users You increased the amount of code written by 10x but unless there’s a 10x increase in demand, its worth nothing
CircuitSeuss 2mo ago
https://www.frank.computer/blog/2025/05/just-a-tool.html https://www.frank.computer/blog/2025/05/just-a-tool.html
don_esteban 2mo ago
Actually, I think that the analogy with the steam engine is a very good one. Prior to the steam engine, almost all energy used by the human civilization has been generated by human and/or animal muscles. Yes, there have been other (water/wind mills, sailing boats), but the application of those has been rather limited to very specific tasks and/or locations. Prior to current AI, almost all 'mental' work has been done by human minds. There have been some intrusion by calculators/computer systems, but their applicability has been rather limited. AI promises to do to mental labour what steam engine (and later power tools) did for manual labour. (Including the atrophy of muscle/mind ...) Regarding 'It's just a tool': How much emphasis do you put on 'just'? Starting to use a new tool (especially if it is a powerful one) has many downstream consequences, and 'how' the tool is used (not only by an individual, but as a society as a whole) matters a lot.