zem

it's applying the existing idea of "boosterism" to AI proponents. the word wasn't coined for this.

will this be recorded? it sounds interesting!

ah, didn't realise that!

wasn't bg3 pretty universally praised too?

so first off, i'm not an AI avoider - i use LLMs all day at work, and have several personal projects i'm likewise using claude for. but a single, interactive session produces code as fast as i can handle, if i want to keep a tight rein on the quality of the output - i often find myself having to look at the code generated from some intermediate stage and course-correct.

i do use agents for code review but again in a very human-in-the-loop manner; i will ask for a review and then read it over before feeding it to my coding LLM session and asking it to read and iterate on it. as you say, it can be surprisingly tricky to get right, and i like the confidence of the human being the coordinating reviewer.

thanks for all the examples, though - that does give me a lot more context for what people mean by "software factories" (and the assurance that they don't fit the way i work).

I fully agree with the sentiment, but is it attacking a strawman or are people really building "software factories"? this is the first time I've even seen the term used in the context of LLMs. what would a software factory on top of an LLM even look like?

I meant the general industry of flashy looking "health tech" devices, though perhaps it's unfair to link theranos in with some of the more consumer targeted products. but people really want to believe that silicon valley style technology can come in and solve long-standing medical issues, especially around diagnostics, and I've seen a lot of scammy products go by.

there is no way to argue that without also believing that the millions of people the state has tossed into prison are all guilty, which is really not something that I can do.

if I'm being honest with myself, I doubt I will ever watch this movie - I was very interested in theranos when it looked like a real technology, but once it turned out it was just another scam in an industry rife with them the whole thing just felt boring and grubby. the review, on the other hand, was a superb piece of writing, and I'm glad to have read it.

I remember when those snails invaded bombay in the 80s. saw one or two, and then they were suddenly everywhere. it was amazing how fast it happened.

honestly not changing my overall feeling that credit ratings are junk science

* xianxia

there was definitely a time when bookstores would sell predominantly mass market paperbacks with trade paperbacks being the exception. I got a kindle in 2011 and my paper book buying dropped sharply, so my bookshelves are full of books I bought before then and they're almost all mass market sized.

it could, but then they would need to be willing to put at least three people on it, and the project itself would be subject to the political currents in that company. having several companies involved is more stable. (anecdotally several good open source projects at google died in their first big wave of layoffs)