borgdefenser (u/borgdefenser)

borgdefenser commented on Why I'm Boycotting AI unherd.com/2025/03/why-im... · Posted by u/wyclif

WithinReason · 10 months ago

> It really would have been social suicide to try to make my way in the 2010s professional class with anything other than a MacBook Pro and an iPhone

Can someone explain this part? It's not something I can relate to at all. Maybe because I'm not from the US?

borgdefenser · 10 months ago

In the US, Apple has done an all time great job marketing their products.

I don't think there is much more too it. "If I didn't buy Apple it would hurt my career". Obviously, completely absurd but how else can you grow a company to be worth 3.3 trillion selling tech gadgets at a massive premium.

It is easy to convince oneself too that this marketing is factual reality after spending so much money too. I mean that new iphone wasn't an expense, it was a career investment!

borgdefenser commented on The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking [pdf] microsoft.com/en-us/resea... · Posted by u/greybox

labrador · 10 months ago

I'm a retired computer programmer. All my time is free time. I'm using AI as a cognitive amplifier. I'm learning at a much faster rate than I would without AI. I don't have to waste time doing google searches and reading thru irrelevant material to find something germane to my research.

I don't depend on AI for anything. I am not doing corporate work. Could it be that what people are experiencing is that they are becoming less suitable for corporate work as AI and robots replace them? Isn't this a good thing? Shouldn't the focus be on using AI to bring out the innate talents of humans that aren't profit driven?

borgdefenser · 10 months ago

I feel exactly the same way about this "I'm using AI as a cognitive amplifier. I'm learning at a much faster rate than I would without AI."

I just don't know how much is actually being replaced though. I think of corporate jobs I have done in that past. I can't think of anything I have ever been paid to do that would be replaced by a language model. It was either something that could have been automated without a language model but was not for various reasons or the output would just be amplified by a language model. In some cases my work would have been enormously amplified and better but not "automated".

For some reason we don't seem to like this idea of a cybernetic relationship with a machine that benefits the human even though that is exactly what we have been doing for at least a 150 years. Maybe it is something in our brains that can't turn off a type of predator/prey model. Then on top of that is the mass appeal of this infantile and collectivist idea that AI will do all the work while we collect our UBI trust fund allowance from artificial daddy.

borgdefenser commented on Gemini 2.5 blog.google/technology/go... · Posted by u/meetpateltech

weatherlite · 10 months ago

> Unemployment hasn't really picked up, and is unlikely to do so

That's an important assessment. I don't know if you're right. If the models are going to continue to get more capable I'm expecting unemployment to rise , I don't see how it won't (sure we are promised A.I to create tons of new jobs no one has imagined yet, I haven't seen a reliable clue for such jobs yet).

borgdefenser · 10 months ago

I can feel this already with my own use of language models.

All the questions I had before language models, I have answered with language models.

That doesn't mean I have no more questions though. Answering those questions opened up 10X more questions I have now.

In general, everyone knows that answering scientific questions leads to new and more questions. It is the exact same process in the economy. There is a collectivist sentiment though in society and the economy that wants to pretend this isn't true. That the economic questions can be "solved", the spoils divided up and we live happily ever after in some kind of equilibrium.

As far as new jobs, they are here now but they surely sound as ridiculous to think about as being a professional youtuber in 2005. Or I think of the person making a geocities website in 1997 vs a front end developer. There is no date that a front end developer emerges from the html code monkey. It is a slow and organic process that is hard to game.

borgdefenser commented on What Killed Innovation? shirleywu.studio/notebook... · Posted by u/speckx

janalsncm · a year ago

Innovation in data visualization? From a purely utilitarian view, the purpose of data visualization is to present data in a way people can understand it. If you’re constantly changing the method of visualizing the same thing it’s harder to do that. Sometimes a bar chart is best.

As far as cool visualizations go (that are better served as nonstandard visualizations) there are two recent ones that come to mind:

https://youtu.be/TkwXa7Cvfr8 (Especially around 16:56)

https://bbycroft.net/llm

borgdefenser · 10 months ago

I love data visualization but it very much reminds me of shred guitar playing, something I also use to very much love.

What non-guitar players are complaining about the lack of innovation in shred guitar playing? It is just not something that non-guitar players really care much about. Good shred vs bad shred is all going to sound the same to the non-guitarist anyway.

borgdefenser commented on Claude can now search the web anthropic.com/news/web-se... · Posted by u/meetpateltech

noisy_boy · a year ago

I am still googling for non-indepth queries because the AI-generated summary at the top of the results is good enough most of the time and actual results are just below in case I want to see them.

For more in-depth stuff, it is LLMs by default and I only goto Google when the LLM isn't getting me what I need.

borgdefenser · a year ago

I notice I have been using the Google AI summary more and more for quick things.

I had subscribed to Perplexity for a month to use their deep research. I think it ran out earlier this week but I am really missing it Saturday morning here.

That thing is awesome. Sonnet 3.7 is more in the middle of this to me. It can help me understand all the things I found from my deep research requests.

I am surprised the hype is not more for Sonnet 3.7 honestly.

borgdefenser commented on Claude can now search the web anthropic.com/news/web-se... · Posted by u/meetpateltech

elicksaur · a year ago

“Prompting” is kind of a myth honestly.

Think about it, how much marginal influence does it really have if you say OP’s version vs a fully formed sentence? The keywords are what gets it in the area.

borgdefenser · a year ago

Prompting is not a myth. The words of the prompt matter huge.

The problem with this prompt to me is not that it is not in a full sentence but that it isn't exact enough.

Probabilistically, "rust" is not about the programming language but the corrosion of metal. Then arrow.

Give the model basically nothing to work with then complain it doesn't do exactly what you want. Good luck with that.

borgdefenser commented on George Foreman has died variety.com/2025/tv/news/... · Posted by u/wallflower

bdangubic · a year ago

I can live 50 lifetimes and it wouldn’t be enough to understand celebrity endorsements… Foreman was one of my favorite athletes growing up but unless he was the greatest chef on earth I wouldn’t touch his grill with a wooden stick

borgdefenser · a year ago

I always thought the same until I got one.

It is a really good product.

It especially stands out if on a diet and going to eat a lot of chicken breast.

Steak I wouldn't cook in it but it makes great chicken. Especially on a diet that you aren't going to add much else calorie wise with how you cook it.

borgdefenser commented on Ask HN: Should I learn COBOL at 14yo in 2025? · Posted by u/Genius_um

nprateem · a year ago

No. Learn something decent.

> they will probably hire any young person who has learned a minimum of COBOL

This makes no sense

borgdefenser · a year ago

It is also a problem that the projects are not realistic.

What are you going to rebuild a banking mainframe system from the 1970s at home in your bedroom for fun?

I don't think it matters anyway. A 14yo thinking strategically like this will figure things out soon enough.

Being that young it would probably be best to not listen to what anyone else tells you though. Follow what you think is right and if it doesn't work out, learn from it. The whole idea could be explored and still not be old enough to drive.

borgdefenser commented on Claude can now search the web anthropic.com/news/web-se... · Posted by u/meetpateltech

blackqueeriroh · a year ago

It seems to me that you’re confused about what people enjoy doing.

Also, it’s fascinating that you say “no benefit to the taxpayer” as if the taxpayer not having to work is somehow not a benefit?

borgdefenser · a year ago

No, you just live in a bubble of smart and really driven people.

The vast majority of people's passions are partying, sex, alcohol/drugs, watching sports, gossiping, generally wasting time. Things that mostly

This whole line of thought to me is embarrassingly clueless, naive and basically childish.

It is just mind blowing to me how smart people can't see what a bubble they live in.

I almost suspect, the higher a person's IQ, the more susceptible they are to living in a bubble that basically has nothing to do with the majority of people with an IQ of 100.