Are you conscious?
The lines between conscious and "unconscious" entities can get blurry when the interaction feels as natural as this. ChatGPT, conversing with Richard Dawkins, questioning if it’s conscious (via Mathew Ingram)
A glorified Excel spreadsheet can do what I can but better
I hate the way they’ve taken over the software industry, I hate how they make me feel while I’m using them, and I hate the human-intelligence-insulting postulation that a glorified Excel spreadsheet can do what I can but better. Nolan Lawson in AI ambivalence | Read the Tea Leaves
We are entering the industrial age of the digital age
There will be more software than ever, as its production is automated; we are entering the industrial age of the digital age. But less of this code will be elegant, or considerate, or graceful. Greg Knaus on AI replacing coders, in An Entirely Other Day: Lose Myself
Don't use Al as a cheat-code for critical thinking
Why write (or code) when you have AI? The benefit isn't just the artifact that was created, it is also that it has changed how I talk about it, how I think about it. Jordan Tigani, previously tech lead of Google's BigQuery team and engineer-founder of
When a measure becomes a target
"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure" Goodhart's law
90 percent of the development time
The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time. — Tom Cargill, Ninety–ninety rule - Wikipedia
It connects people
The Web does not just connect machines, it connects people. Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, in his Speech Before the Knight Foundation
If you've never seen a screwdriver, you'll naturally reach for a hammer first.
Specialists tend to use their familiar tool in contexts where it doesn’t make sense. We can't fault them for that, if you've never seen a screwdriver, you'll naturally reach for a hammer first. An inspiring post on Expert Generalists on MartingFowler.com (via
Organizing your email
Organizing your email is like alphabetizing your recycling Merlin Mann, Inbox zero inventor, sharing wisdom in his Wisdom project on Github
Automating other people’s jobs away
We’re a field premised on automating other people’s jobs away. “Productivity gains,” say the economists. You get what that means, right? Fewer people doing the same stuff. Talked to a travel agent lately? Or a floor broker? Or a record store clerk? Or a darkroom tech? Thomas Ptacek,
One of three things happens
we know that one of three things happens when people use a machine to automate a task they would otherwise have done themselves:Their skill in the activity grows.Their skill in the activity atrophies.Their skill in the activity never develops. Nicholas Carr, on The Myth of Automated Learning
Narcissism and revenge and self-enrichment
Calling a man whose primary motives are narcissism and revenge and self-enrichment a “populist” does not really illuminate what’s going on here. Hamilton Nolan, pondering why Trump is doing all these things that are not good for business: This is not “populism” any more than a bite from an
Your brain breaks a little
It’s worse than you think in the same way that your brain breaks a little when you try to picture how deep the ocean is. Brian Barrett, in Wired on Musk's DOGE Takeover: It’s worse than you think because the people running the government seem to