Forget the last 5 years. Take the last 15 years. What exactly has say Meta contributed to the world? What true innovation?
I'm not a fan of Meta, but I like their open source contributions, specifically PyTorch.
Readit Newsherdcall commented on More big companies bet they can still grow without hiring wsj.com/business/companie... · Posted by u/LostMyLogin
herdcall commented on AI Pullback Has Officially Started planetearthandbeyond.co/p... · Posted by u/danfritz
Articles like this keep popping up because they're catnip to those who hate AI or feel threatened by it. On coding, I routinely see people trashing vibe coding and jumping on the slightest mistake agents may make, never mind that human devs screw up all the time. And write-ups citing stats on AI coding tend to be written by folks who either don't code for a living or never earnestly tried it.
I use Claude Code regularly at work and can tell it is absolutely fantastic and getting better. You obviously need to guide it well (use plan mode first) and point to hand coded stuff to follow, and it will save you enormous amount of time and effort. Please don't put off trying AI coding out after reading misinformed articles like this.
herdcall commented on Vibe coding cleanup as a service donado.co/en/articles/202... · Posted by u/sjdonado
I have been taking on "rescue" projects for a while through my business. Previously, the barely-functioning code was usually being generated via outsourcing agencies but it seems the new source is now going to be LLMs.
I imagine it will be the same set of issues really. Just a different way of cost cutting measures. There can be good reasons to take shortcuts but, in my experience, the problems start when you're not mindful that there's a price to pay for taking these shortcuts. Whether it comes from managers, employees or outsourced personnel, it's the same result.
I haven't thought about advertising it as a separate type of service(for vibe coded platforms) yet but maybe I should. The Australian software market is small so haven't been hearing much about the results of those experiments.
There's a BIG difference, at least with tools like Claude Code: plan mode. I'm now using Claude Code a lot at at work, and the first thing I do is enter plan mode where I can have a "conversation" asking it explain how it would implement. Just a few back/forth later I end up refining its plan to conform to good (or what I think is "good") design, after which it will tell me exactly what it is going to do (with code diffs), which I sign off on (again, potentially after a few iterations). It's only then that it generates the code.
By contrast, on one project many years ago I was reviewing the code generated by an overseas team, and I couldn't make head or tail of it, it was an absolute tangled mess that was impossible to fix.
herdcall commented on The Software Engineers Paid to Fix Vibe Coded Messes 404media.co/the-software-... · Posted by u/zdw
Well, I'm sure we've all seen code produced by human developers that is 10x worse than what my Claude Code produces (certainly I have), so let's be real. And it's improving scary fast.
Questioning science is not automatically "anti-science," IMO it's best to remain skeptical and stay focused on the evidence. The fact of the matter is that current "best medical advice" is not the best either in terms of quality of life or prognosis. I've had a remote member of a family lose sight in an eye, develop short term memory issues, and rapidly deteriorate from cancer in spite of following the best medical advice and guided by top physicians. My family is full of physicians, and I see even them questioning traditional methods. I would caution against media's rush to blame anything going against the mainstream narrative as "anti-science" or "misinformation." Yes, there are quacks and morons, but let's not put labels on anyone questioning bad outcomes.
herdcall commented on Claude can now search the web anthropic.com/news/web-se... · Posted by u/meetpateltech
> I asked it "Rust crate to access Postgres with Arrow support"
Is that how you actually use llms? Like a Google search box?
Well, compare it to the really good answer from Grok (https://x.com/i/grok/share/MMGiwgwSlEhGP6BJzKdtYQaXD) for the same prompt. Also, framing as a question still pointed to the non-existent postgres-arrow with Claude.
herdcall commented on Claude can now search the web anthropic.com/news/web-se... · Posted by u/meetpateltech
It badly hallucinated in my test. I asked it "Rust crate to access Postgres with Arrow support" and it made up an arrow-postgres crate. It even gave sample Rust code using this fictional crate! Below is its response (code example omitted):
I can recommend a Rust crate for accessing PostgreSQL with Arrow support. The primary crate you'll want to use is arrow-postgres, which combines the PostgreSQL connectivity of the popular postgres crate with Apache Arrow data format support. This crate allows you to:
Query PostgreSQL databases using SQL Return results as Arrow record batches Use strongly-typed Arrow schemas Convert between PostgreSQL and Arrow data types efficiently
The article touches on it a little, but I'd like to know answers to the following questions:
- Are car sales in general down?
- Are other EV makers seeing a corresponding uptick in sales?
- Are ICE vehicles seeing an uptick in sales?
Just knowing that Tesla sales for a specific model have tanked doesn't tell me enough. The article mentions that Polestar and BYD are seeing an increase in sales over the last year, but doesn't say whether the last couple months have seen a higher increase than previously.
Yes. Global EV sales were 1.9 million in Dec 2024, 1.3 million in Jan 2025, and 1.4 million in Feb 2025. This is apparently typical after the holiday spending each year.
herdcall commented on Musk Distorts Data: Tesla Still Years from Full Self-Driving electrek.co/2025/01/13/el... · Posted by u/belter
I've been using the latest v13.2.2 and it regularly goes 100% on its own door to door over 1-2 hour trips that I've driven, navigating side roads, highways, lane changes, road blocks, everything, without a single intervention from me. I just sit and watch, it's incredible actually. Again, this is NOT just highway experience, but door to door. I've driven the earlier versions and they were pretty good, but this latest one (v13.2.2) is a huge improvement that makes me feel it's arrived.
I mean... Yes okay. But is this the world you prefer? Wouldn't it be nice if we could both tell children to be the best they could be at something, to strive for greatness... And then also supported them when they did? Or would you rather reduce humanity to the cold calculus of capitalism?
You're correct. But throwing a disc may be fun activity, but by no means is it a mark of "greatness." If a pro sport can't entertain, IMO it's a waste of time and contributes little to humanity. I would be happier if people celebrate wins in science.