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simonw
I've seen enough now that I no longer worry that LLMs getting better at code will threaten my job.

LLMs give programmers an extraordinary productivity boost, but are much less effective for people who don't have a programming mindset.

It might help more people gain that mindset, but ai welcome that: it's not like there's any shortage of problems in the world that benefit from being automated by computers.

benatkin
That reads like an OpenAI talking point.

The smart thing to do as programmers is to keep trying to automate more of our work, but there's no guarantee that it will be like this in the future.

A lot of this post resonated with me: https://youtubetranscriptoptimizer.com/blog/05_the_short_cas... It doesn't argue that demand for video cards will be exhausted, but that it won't be as white hot as it is now. I can see the same with the top tier of programming talent. There isn't any shortage of problems that you could throw compute at and it's the same for top-tier programming talent, but does the market need it right away at any cost?

andromaton
if you check GP, you might agree he is very helpful. Btw, he is the author of the article posted.
benatkin
I'm aware, thanks, but it could have been anyone saying that AI won't threaten your job. It's still a big claim.
joshuanapoli
Programmers have always made a living by automating ourselves out of business. Somehow, we're still doing pretty well.
Nuzzerino OP (dead)
leetharris
AI will eventually replace programmers, but programmers with AI will replace everything else first.

If you know how to code and have an AI assistant, you can first automate the rest of white color work.

brookst
It’s a tool. And I suspect doctors and lawyers could mount a spirited argument that programmers have done far more harm than their millennia-old fields.
marxisttemp
In what way would you say doctors have largely failed Western society lately?
Nuzzerino OP
You obviously don't have a chronic illness or you wouldn't be asking that. Either that or you're rich.
nickthegreek
Are you conflating doctors with insurance like the larger health care industrial complex?
Nuzzerino OP
No one is forcing those doctors to participate in that system. Many (but not enough) of them don't, and operate cash clinics, which have a better reputation for quality.

But ultimately, healthcare is suffering not because of the insurance companies, but because of the American Medical Association, which worked to artificially limit the supply of doctors so that doctors could be paid more. This makes it more optimal for doctors to choose to participate in the insurance scheme as well.

So I ask again, why are we prioritizing the automation of software development, where neither the skill nor the profession itself is gatekept like healthcare is?

energy123
Insurance companies are part of the problem but not the foremost problem. Their profit margins are less than 10%, even if they operated as a charity, healthcare costs wouldn't go down much.

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/insurance-companies-arent-the-...

benatkin
I think doctors generally do their best, but it's still disappointing. Doctors can't make food less enticing. https://www.instagram.com/lukesmithrd/p/DBRoWvRSMKx/
marxisttemp
I couldn’t be more pro-Luigi comrade. But doctors != (the AMA | insurance companies).
Nuzzerino OP
Maybe we can agree they didn't fail society, but I still think reversing the artificial supply reduction of doctors is arguably better from a utilitarian perspective than doing so with software engineers.

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