Assuming that happens, I think we can look to Detroit, starting 50 years ago, for a good example of how awful we are at scaling down and retiring infrastructure at anything approaching this scale. Especially when the state doesn’t care to require companies to clean up their mess.

You say that, but that is (or at least was) a real problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_(computer_architecture)

(X) Doubt

As a Sr. Engineer, I completely get that my situation may be wildly different from what’s cited in the article.

Right now, I’m using AI “in the loop” rather than “as the loop”. That’s a big difference. And I’m getting my ass kicked routinely on review for dumb-ass things that I’m letting slide from AI generated output. And rightly so. Plus, models routinely lead me down sub-optimal blind alleys while dreaming up really stupid ways to fix problems. The level of (re)prompting I have to provide to suggest to get decent quality results converges on a post-grad that has encyclopedic knowledge of software engineering as it exists online, but with zero real-world experience. It’s both impressive and dangerous as a replacement for software engineering.

In the mode I describe above, I’m not losing the ability to do anything. I can see how one could surrender some coding chops or familiarity with a whole language or stack, in favor of automation. But all you have to do is not do that.

I will say that as a rapid-prototyping technology, It’s nothing short of miraculous. I’ve watched junior engineers knock together medium-weight applications, complete with browser UI/UX and decent workflow, in less than a week. This is great for showing value or putting something semi-functional in front of management and/or customers. But pivoting those prototypes into something maintainable is an utter nightmare. Depending on how beholden to AI and forever prompt-looping with “skills” and MCPs you want to be, I suppose it’s possible to just keep mashing the AI button. But at some point, you’re going to need to get inside there to fix security problems or bugs that elude this workflow. What then?

I think it’s possible (theoretical at least) that greed can be harnessed in specific ways to do good and even empathetic works; it’s a potent motivator after all. IMO, there’s likely a balance. But the overarching market and financial governance can’t ever be on the side of greed for that to work. Otherwise, the people in power pull all the stops and the experiment is rendered moot.

This always happens.

A company that acts without empathy for their customers will invariably act the same towards their employees. This is because the behavior is usually driven by personalities in leadership that (dis)function this way rather universally. Add the fact that empathy limits one’s ability to make money (in this economy), and that psychological modeling is a thing in the workplace, and it’s easy to see how we keep getting into trouble like this.

There really isn’t an “at the right hand of the devil” scenario. Everyone is in his path, especially if you’re close.

Do they put a seam or darts in to intentionally pull it into the crack?

Yes. That and the garment might be undersized, while taking advantage of the high lycra/spandex content of the material.

I was gonna say. We’re all in the back seat of a car because you’re not running from that thing with knees that old.

I would love this to be an unintended outcome from all this. However, I don’t think that’s where we’re headed.

I, for one, think there’s a lot of slop in and around the engineering of phones. We might see a lot more software, storage, and overall activity crunched, compressed, and crammed into our portable devices instead. And with more stuff in the cloud/SaaS realm, they can also become (even) thinner clients at the same time. :(

It’s “heavier” gear like laptops and desktops that’ll probably get pushed into the pro and “prosumer” market.

Oh, we don’t do compassion and positive reinforcement around here.

I would have sprung for a professionally made sandwich board or spinny sign.

I really hope this guy got some high-fives for his trouble.

I’m calling it now. Streaming services are going to continue to double-down on artificial scarcity for flagship shows until we 100% converge on cable. They’re going to reinvent broadcast schedules after slow-drip weekly episode rollouts and half-seasons (you are here) don’t get the results they want.

Yeah, that’s not very typical, I’d like to make that point.

To be fair, this bus is always on time.

We should have taken this sentiment for the (industry) warning it was.

I really don’t like where all of this is going. All the integrated pay-to-use, cloud-enabled, surveillance (and surveillance-adjacent) tech was bad enough. Then there’s the runaway average pricing for cars and increasing loan terms. And now we’re getting AI foisted in while we’re at it? At what point does it implode, with everyone just sticking with older tech and sticking to the used market?

Shit. They’re going to make old cars illegal, aren’t they?

I had teachers like this. Let’s just say I keep coming back to less than nice things to say about that kind of behavior.

The flash-card thing is kind of cursed anyway because multiplication is commutative, and you really don’t need the cards for zero, one, and ten. If you can add anything to itself in your head, throw out the twos while we’re at it. So you really only need 40-ish cards to do the job, not 144+.

or even moving ahead to more advanced math concepts.

Yeah, can’t break the class up into multiple lesson plans. Gotta move with the herd.

In a just world, you’d have been bumped up a grade, moved into an advanced track, or given time in advanced sessions with other gifted students. That said, your teacher would have been responsible for making those recommendations. FWIW, I did get into those advanced sessions but only after contact with a teacher that wasn’t projecting, envious, or an authoritarian blowhard about this kind of thing.

you can’t punish someone out of having ADHD

I just want to say that, not only does this resonate with me, but it’s one of those things that you’ll never un-think or un-see. I have a lot to reflect on, as this simple insight will help me tremendously. Thanks.

Re-parenting yourself “through friendship and fatherhood by proxy” has to be one of the most brilliant ways I’ve heard of doing that. This has to be miles easier than doing this solo. Nicely done!

Eh, that’s the system so I can’t fault you. But specialty electives like that usually have limited seats - your seat may have displaced someone much more enthralled with the subject.

I’m sorry, but what about this cube is “population sized”?

Well, if you liquefy the entire human race, it would fit into a container with roughly those proportions.