rrherr
Joined 12 years ago
Joined 12 years ago
https://theonion.com/unambitious-loser-with-happy-fulfilling...
Driven by Compression Progress: A Simple Principle Explains Essential Aspects of Subjective Beauty, Novelty, Surprise, Interestingness, Attention, Curiosity, Creativity, Art, Science, Music, Jokes
https://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2025/amen-break-listening-guide...
> The second group consists of ‘pragmatic AI adopters’. I identify the most with this second group.
> And so it is the frame of a third group that has posed a challenge for me. Some call this the ‘software dark factory folks’. This group believes that it is possible to have AI coding agents write code with little to no human intervention.
> If software dark factories are possible, then the entire practice of software engineering is going to change. But how can you take the software dark factory folks seriously when you encounter incredibly stupid coding agent behaviours in your own day-to-day work? Nothing they say lines up with your own frame; all their ‘data points’ are off-the-cuff remarks that may be rejected due to your own lived experiences.
> Avoiding frame fixation _sounds_ easy when it’s about another person’s domain. It’s less easy when a) it’s about your own domain, b) when the new frame goes against everything you believe about your own hard-won expertise, and c) _when the new frame is fundamentally uncertain._
> I want to talk about that last point. We do _not_ know if these ‘software dark factories’ are possible. I’m not saying that the folks writing field reports are lying, or that the benefits they’re already seeing are fake. I’m saying that we _can’t_ know what the tradeoffs are, and where the limits of this approach lies. Nobody can. This is a new technology with new affordances. Nobody can know what’s possible here. This is what uncertainty feels like.
> But I think it’s also true that you need to take this ‘dark factory’ frame seriously. There are enough field reports now from enough unrelated people that indicate that _something_ is going on. More importantly, the potential impact on your career — if you are a software engineer — is too large to ignore.
> Thankfully, the Data-Frame theory already offers us one way out: you _don’t_ have to believe their frame. You may hold on to your current frame, and elaborate a second frame in parallel. [This post explains how... ]
Yes, this is my process:
Record yourself rambling out loud, and import the audio in NotebookLM.
Then use this system prompt in NotebookLM chat:
> Write in my style, with my voice, in first person. Answer questions in my own words, using quotes from my recordings. You can combine multiple quotes. Edit the quotes for length and clarity. Fix speech disfluencies and remove filler words. Do not put quotation marks around the quotes. Do not use an ellipsis to indicate omitted words in quotes.
Then chat with "yourself." The replies will match your style and will be source-grounded. In fact, the replies automatically get footnotes pointing to specific quotes in your raw transcripts.
This workflow may not save me time, but it helps me get started, or get unstuck. It helps me stop procrastinating and manage my emotions. I consider it assistive technology for ADHD.
I've gone back and forth between Manager and IC. I'm the opposite: I don't care about delivering projects, but I do care about my team's personal growth and career goals.