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seadan83 commented on Vibe Debugging: Enterprises' Up and Coming Nightmare   marketsaintefficient.subs... · Posted by u/someoneloser
itsdrewmiller · a day ago
> I suspect best practices for "vibe coding" will end up like test-driven development: a proven method for writing better software that many engineers still choose to skip.

I’d like to see the proof for TDD; last I heard it slowed development with only minor reliability improvements.

seadan83 · a day ago
The proof for TDD is usually looking at bug detection rates. Similar for code review. OTOH, the "design damage" of TDD is something overlooked by those metrics.

What it boils down to: - TDD in the hands of a junior is very good. Drastically reduces bugs, and teaches the junior how to write code that can be tested and is not just a big long single method of spaghetti with every data structure represented as another dimension on some array.

- TDD in the hands of a midlevel can be a mixed bag. They've learned how to do TDD well, but have not learned when and why TDD can go bad. This creates design damage, where everything is shoe-horned into TDD and the goal of 90% line coverage is a real consideration. This is maximum correctness but also potentially maximum design damage.

- TDD in the hands of a senior is a power tool. The "right" tests are written for the right reasons with the right level of coupling and the tests overall are useful. Every really complicated algorithm I've had to write, TDD was a life saver for getting it landed.

Feels a lot like asking someone if they prefer X or Y and they say "X" is the industry best practice. My response universally is now an eye brow raise "oh, is it? For which segments of the industry? Why? How do we know it's actually a best practice? Okay, given our context, why would it be a best practice for US". Juniors don't know the best practices, mid-levels apply them everywhere, seniors evaluate and consider when best practices are not best practices.

TDD slows development when tests are written in a blind way with an eye on code coverage and not correctness and design. TDD speeds up development in being a good way to catch errors and is one of the best ways to ensure correctness.

seadan83 commented on Vibe coding creates a bus factor of zero   mindflash.org/coding/ai/a... · Posted by u/AntwaneB
Rickasaurus · 3 days ago
The flaw in this reasoning is AI can also help you understand code much more quickly than we could before. We are now in fractional bus factor territory.
seadan83 · 2 days ago
I agree the risk of bus factor zero is reduced when ramp up time is reduced (through the use of AI enabled tooling), but I disagree in that you still have bus factor zero nonetheless.
seadan83 commented on Vibe coding creates a bus factor of zero   mindflash.org/coding/ai/a... · Posted by u/AntwaneB
raincole · 3 days ago
> Why does it require 100% accuracy 100% of the time?

I've said this before, but I'd say it again: anti-AI people, instead of AI users, are usually those who expect AI to be magical panacea.

The vibe reminds me of some people who are against static typing because "it can't catch logical error anyway."

seadan83 · 2 days ago
No, it's not a wish nor an expectation for a magical panacea, but logic.

The only code you do not have to maintain is code that is fully perfect (100% accurate, 100% of the time). Bus factor zero is a problem for code that needs to be maintained. If AI is short of the 100%, then it is generating code that needs to be maintained. Ergo, a bus factor zero will be a problem for AI generated code (until such time as that code is perfect).

seadan83 commented on US state department stops issuing visas for Gaza’s children to get medical care   theguardian.com/us-news/2... · Posted by u/NomDePlum
nobodyandproud · 6 days ago
No. You shifted the goalpost.

What’s terrifying is that what would be elected is far worse.

seadan83 · 6 days ago
Unless I made a terrible copy/paste error, I 100% quoted the guardian article that we are discussing. In other words, "did you read the article?"

To your other point: The goal post is the statement (I'm paraphrasing here): "It was not a majority of Gazans that voted for Hamas, but instead a plurality". My rebuttal is that for sure half of the country did not vote for Hamas because the last election is before the median age of the country (half the country was not even born yet).

Could you explain how I shifted goal posts?

I think you might be assuming that we "know" without elections that the majority of the current population is "radicalized". The evidence of pluralities and majorities is given through elections, we don't have evidence for the current population. Maybe that is what you perceive as shifting the goal posts?

If you're going off of something other than elections as evidence for support of hamas at a plurality level of current Gazans - please share the data you are using to be "terrifi[ed] of .. what would be elected" (quoting you @nobodyandpround with slight paraphrase to make the grammar work). The population is roughly 2M people, it's difficult to get to any answer other than "we don't know" without a full blown and free election.

seadan83 commented on When did AI take over Hacker News?   zachperk.com/blog/when-di... · Posted by u/zachperkel
bondarchuk · 6 days ago
I think what BoiledCabbage is pointing out is that the fact that it's a next-token-predictor is used as an argument for the thesis that LLMs are not intelligent, and that this is wrong, since being a next-token-predictor is compatible with being intelligent. When mikert89 says "thinking machines have been invented", dgfitz in response strongly implies that for a for thinking machines to exist, they must become "more than a statistical token predictor". Regardless of whether or not thinking machines currently exist, dgfitz argument is wrong and BoiledCabbage is right to point that out.
seadan83 · 6 days ago
> an argument for the thesis that LLMs are not intelligent, and that this is wrong,

Why is that wrong? I mean, I support that thesis.

> since being a next-token-predictor is compatible with being intelligent.

No. My argument is by definition that is wrong. It's wisdom vs intelligence. Street-smart vs book smart. I think we all agree there is a distinction between wisdom and intelligence. I would define wisdom as being able to recall pertinent facts and experiences. Intelligence is measured in novel situations, it's the ability to act as if one had wisdom.

A next token predictor by definition is recalling. The intelligence of a LLM is good enough to match questions to potentially pertinent definitions, but it ends there.

It feels like there is intelligence for sure. In part it is hard to comprehend what it would be like to know the entirety of every written word with perfect recall - hence essentially no situation is novel. LLMs fail on anything outside of their training data. The "outside of the training" data is the realm of intelligence.

I don't know why it's so important to argue that LLMs have this intelligence. It's just not there by definition of "next token predictor", which is at core a LLM.

For example, a human being probably could pass through a lot of life by responding with memorized answers to every question that has ever been asked in written history. They don't know a single word of what they are saying, their mind perfectly blank - but they're giving very passable and sophisticated answers.

> When mikert89 says "thinking machines have been invented",

Yeah, absolutely they have not. Unless we want to reducto absurd-um the definition of thinking.

> they must become "more than a statistical token predictor"

Yup. As I illustrated by breaking down the components of "smart" into the broad components of 'wisdom' and 'intelligence', through that lens we can see that next token predictor is great for the wisdom attribute, but it does nothing for intelligence.

>dgfitz argument is wrong and BoiledCabbage is right to point that out.

Why exactly? You're stating apriori that the argument is wrong without saying way.

seadan83 commented on When did AI take over Hacker News?   zachperk.com/blog/when-di... · Posted by u/zachperkel
BoiledCabbage · 6 days ago
> I am so floored that at least half of this community, usually skeptical to a fault, evangelizes LLMs so ardently. Truly blows my mind. ... > I’m open to them becoming more than a statistical token predictor, and I think it would be really neat to see that happen

I'm more shocked that so many people seem unable to come to grips with the fact that something can be a next token predictor and demonstrate intelligence. That's what blows my mind, people unable to see that something can be more than the sum of its parts. To them, if something is a token predictor clearly it can't be doing anything impressive - even while they watch it do I'm impressive things.

seadan83 · 6 days ago
> I'm more shocked that so many people seem unable to come to grips with the fact that something can be a next token predictor and demonstrate intelligence.

Except LLMs have not shown much intelligence. Wisdom yes, intelligence no. LLMs are language models, not 'world' models. It's the difference of being wise vs smart. LLMs are very wise as they have effectively memorized the answer to every question humanity has written. OTOH, they are pretty dumb. LLMs don't "understand" the output they produce.

> To them, if something is a token predictor clearly it can't be doing anything impressive

Shifting the goal posts. Nobody said that a next token predictor can't do impressive things, but at the same time there is a big gap between impressive things and other things like "replace very software developer in the world within the next 5 years."

seadan83 commented on US state department stops issuing visas for Gaza’s children to get medical care   theguardian.com/us-news/2... · Posted by u/NomDePlum
nobodyandproud · 6 days ago
Plurality, not majority. The conservatives lie by saying majority.

Liberals lie by saying that it wasn’t a majority; yet omitting a key detail: Yes Hamas won, with 44%.

And if you’re gonna quote wikipedia: “ Tensions between Fatah and Hamas began to rise in 2005 after the death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004. After the legislative election on 25 January 2006, which resulted in a Hamas victory, relations were marked by sporadic factional fighting. This became more intense after the two parties repeatedly failed to reach a deal to share government power, escalating in June 2007 and resulting in Hamas' takeover of Gaza.[35]”

seadan83 · 6 days ago
I quoted the article. The median age in gaza is estimated to be 18. Half of the population was not even born the last time there was an election. Consider hamas lost 3 of 5, it was neither a plurality. It's not about how liberals or conservatives lie, what was written is a lie.

A plurality of gazans did not vote for Hamas because half of them were not even yet born. They had no vote.

seadan83 commented on US state department stops issuing visas for Gaza’s children to get medical care   theguardian.com/us-news/2... · Posted by u/NomDePlum
worldsavior · 6 days ago
Israel doesn't target children. It has no reason to, and it's a civilized country with a full (far left if it helps) judging system.
seadan83 · 6 days ago
I didn't write anything about targetting children.

But, while on the topic. Targetting vs accepting children as collateral damage are different. Both can be true.

The judiciary is also notably notoriously lenient in prosecuting crimes against Gazans.

seadan83 commented on US state department stops issuing visas for Gaza’s children to get medical care   theguardian.com/us-news/2... · Posted by u/NomDePlum
worldsavior · 6 days ago
Two territories are each other's enemies: Israel VS Gaza (Gaza citizens supported Hamas for 20+ years- cheering on 7th of October-and probably still are). Again, Israel doesn't kill children for fun neither does it try to kill.
seadan83 · 6 days ago
Gaza is an occupied territory. It's not equal.

> Gaza citizens supported Hamas for 20+ years- cheering on 7th of October-and probably still are

This is a lie. The stats do not bare this out. Sure you can find examples, but a picture or three does not represent 2 million people. Even if it did, we're talking about badly maimed children that are clearly innocent. Last I checked humanity considers children as innocents.

seadan83 commented on US state department stops issuing visas for Gaza’s children to get medical care   theguardian.com/us-news/2... · Posted by u/NomDePlum
seadan83 · 6 days ago
You're repeating the same lies as laura loomer. Quoting the article: "Loomer wrote, before falsely stating that “95% of GAZANS voted for HAMAS.”

"In fact, Hamas got 44% of party list votes in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections across Gaza and the West Bank, and lost three of the five districts in Gaza to the secular Fatah party. There has been no election since then."

u/seadan83

KarmaCake day1494December 13, 2019View Original