Inside me there are three wol… Wait, where’s the third wolf?

It is actually your fault for choosing to like all the wrong things, obviously. Choose things that are getting better next time. (Kidding)

But, seriously, yeah, just be zen about things, find your joy and try to find a few things that aren’t too dependent on others or stuff you can’t control. I do highly recommend some of the timeless crafts and hobbies, woods, fabrics, plants, art, etc.

And yeah, some things really are going to shit, but also, some things are getting better and it’s easy to focus on the bad and miss the good. But there is plenty to enjoy and be happy with.

Ohhh that’s awesome! I knew about control burns, but hadn’t ever thought of that being the origin of the saying.

People are 100% valid in hating “AI” at present because currently it is causing a LOT of negatives and not many positives for the average person.

Think whatever you want about “AI” (machine learning/LLMs/chat bots) it is a tech that isn’t going away. Pandora’s box is wide open, no going back.

Wanting it to be used ethically and responsibly is good common sense.

I like the parallel of nuclear energy. We unlocked the secrets of the atoms and fission. We can either make nukes or we can make clean energy. People, rightfully, protested and “freaked out” because everything at the time was trending towards nukes, and look at that, they were right, however we did finally learn and now use fission as a power source and not for destruction. Yes the capability still exists to drop nukes, but we haven’t in a long time because of all the downsides.

I feel like LLMs and this wave of tech is going to be similar.

We will still have data centers, duh, but they won’t be in everyone’s damn back yard. We will still have LLMs, but we will train them responsibly and have guardrails and what constitutes fair use. We can have neat AI tools that assist us or speed up tedious tasks or automate boring things, that’s fine, but we can do that in healthy ways.

At least, that’s what we all hope for, so let’s help push for that to happen.

That is valid. So be the one to calmly point out that “800 file PRs are dangerous and will lead to bugs in production” and stand firm. You don’t have to refuse to review an 800 PR, but you can point out the position you are being put in.

Just because THEY chose to edit 800 files with an AI prompt doesn’t mean you have to be 100% on the hook for if/when it breaks. Drag that other person back into the spotlight with you and have them own it.

*Cartoon style shepherds cane hook their neck and pull them back on stage*

In a similar boat. I’ve been programming since my family got a IBM 386 in the 90s and I started dabbling in the dark arts. I’ve been a career programmer for 20+ years now. I’ve loved it, all the way up until the past year or two.

Here are some of my rambling thoughts and perspectives, for whatever they are worth.

• “Don’t try to fix someone else’s mistake while they are still in the process of making it.”. AI is both a useful tool and a giant shit show, but if your company wants the shit show, then let them have the shit show, do not carry their burden.

• Lean into hobbies that aren’t on computers. I do woodwork, gardening, arts and crafts, sewing, home repairs, camping, etc. “Go touch grass” as it were.

• “Fight fire with fire”. (I don’t understand that saying) But the point of it is to say, don’t manually review AI slop, if they are gonna slop 800 file PRs at you, AI slop review them and move on. The Titanic is sinking, you aren’t going to save it by frantically bailing with a bucket.

• Programming is both an art form and a skill and it is also like riding a bike. You may not ride for years, but if you get on a bike it will come right back to you. Don’t stress or worry that your skillset is deteriorating, it will always be there. It may get rusty and need some lube, but it won’t go away.

• When the AI bubble finishes popping, AI will still be around, but it may not be shoved into literally everything as much, and there will still be a place for talented people to do quality work. Examples from 2 of my top hobbies is that we have both automated farming and assembly line furniture factories, but handmade solid wood furniture is still around and worth doing, and there are still gardens in a lot of back yards.

• Most of the people in the top positions in our governments and companies are completely and utterly unqualified to be there. You’ll be fine. Focus on being your best self, being happy with YOU. AI is here to stay, but talented people have not lost any value at all, know what you are worth, have some confidence, don’t let the slop get you down, there is literally slop in every aspect and career, try not to worry about it, ya know? Mass produced, low quality clothing and furniture exists, but people still sew and woodwork. It’s ok, be better than the baseline slop and you will have value to those who understand.

• Being a “Jack of all Trades / Master of None” isn’t a bad thing, neither is the inverse a “Master of one thing and nothing else”. All of that is also very black and white thinking, it’s not reality. People are more than just their skills.

Final thoughts and summary: The AI slop is here to stay. As I learned in therapy “Don’t fight the current/flood/rising tide, learn to swim and float above it.”. The river is going to go where it is going to go, you can either be swept away and dragged under or you can sail along the surface and enjoy the breeze. I, personally, recommend the latter.

Good luck out there! You got this!

Enough learning, bout high time for some user acceptance testing.

He isn’t even supposed to be holding office right now. He is an illegal and illegitimate president for inciting and enabling an insurrection and commiting treason.

The problem with that constitutional law and so many others is that there is no “automatic enforcement mechanism”. They are all written like “You can’t do X”, but they don’t specify “If you do X the consequences are Y and should be enforced by Z by them doing Q”…

We should focus on amending laws and our constitution especially to close all those loopholes that he found and exploited. It is still absolutely infuriating and insane that our constitution says he can’t even be president right now, but because no one enforced it we just let him move on in and take control and ruin the country. That is the stupidest reason possible for the stupidest president in the stupidest political movement in history. (So far)

Capitalism requires there to be a threat of what happens if you “don’t work hard enough” or don’t play ball with those in power. Nevermind that most homeless people aren’t that way due to laziness or anything they did wrong, just unlucky situations or medical debt or being laid off at an inconvenient time or something.

It would be far cheaper to our country to have free housing, UBI, universal healthcare and social programs everywhere than what we are doing now, but what we are doing now makes about 1,000 people INSANELY wealthy at the expense of the other 342,000,000 people in the country, so that’s what we keep doing for some stupid reason.

Maybe one day everyone will wake up and stop enabling systems that create this shithole.

CEO gets the golden parachute, employees get the golden shower.

I’m going to start a recruiting company to find this recruiting company a better job listing.

Oh, I thought the minimum age was 70. Silly me.

Talking to anyone MAGA about politics is so maddening because you’ll ask: Do you want (DSA policy)? Yes. Do you think that (DSA policy)? Yes. Would you like it if (DSA policy)? Yes. Do you want (MAGA policy)? No, that’s insane! What do you think of (MAGA policy)? No!

Ok, who are you voting for? Anyone with an ®!

Oh FFS.