Oh my god

Somewhere, right now, a completely unnecessary meeting is happening about whether another meeting is necessary. You are not there. This is a victory. #gooderliving

@kevlin I find rereading https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/how-to-talk-about-ai-without-adding-to-the/ from time to time helps me stray less.

Meetings: where work goes to die, except when you take a meeting with me https://blog.codinghorror.com/meetings-where-work-goes-to-die/

suddenly felt like I was transported to an alternate reality

OK, I guess I wasn't done after all.

Much of the opining about developer backlash to LLMs falls into two loose theoretical categories:

(1) Labor problem: developers now experience employment threat, loss of job security, layoffs, new levels of worry about the future

(2) Identity problem: developers used to feel special because generating code was placed on a cultural pedestal (sign of a special third brain lobe or whatever), that perceived specialness was a pillar of our personal identity, and now our egos are bruised because machines can do it and we don’t feel special anymore

While there’s doubtless truth to both of those in some / many cases, I posit a third theory:

(3) Purpose problem: contrary to popular belief, developers actually care quite a lot about the people who use our software and we derive a sense of purpose and meaning from doing what we believe to be good work; the current environment undermines that, not just LLMs but LLMs as part of a broader vortex of enshittification, and our world is effectively saying “everything you cared about doesn't matter, you can't hope to fight to make it matter, and you are stupid for caring”

I think there's evidence for that last theory in the kinds of despair you hear from developers: not just anxiety about paying the bills, not just angry feather-puffing, but a kind of existential despair that comes from the unraveling of one’s internal sense of purpose and meaning.

4/3

I’ve been thinking a lot about the gulf between people who think LLMs can cut 90% of the cost of software development or whatever and people who think that’s a pile of catastrophes balanced on top of a nonsense wish.

I think a lot of that chasm boils down to the fact that software is already •terrible•, and people have very different feelings about that. I don't just mean “Liquid Glass is ugly” terrible; I mean “it’s broken and insecure and unreliable and just doesn't flipping WORK” terrible, like Arbiter Sports.

We are right now in a war between people who think software should treat humans humanely and people who are perfectly willing to offload their development costs onto captive users in the form of wasted time, anger, anxiety, and other forms of personal harm even more severe than those. That war was raging well before LLMs entered the picture, but LLMs drove it to fever pitch. I’m extremely skeptical of the idea that LLMs make any significant positive contribution to the long-term speed or cost of writing •good• software, but they clearly have the potential to lower the floor for •bad• software to unheard-of levels at unheard-of speeds. How you feel about that fact probably predicts a lot about how you feel about the “LLMs can 10x software dev!” hype.

3/3

“Welcome to Carbonite Cruises how can i help you today?”

“How much for four years in the freezer?”

“Four…Voted for the other guy, eh?”

“Oh I didn’t vote”

“Then you can take the long way round. Get the hell out of my shop.”

#Tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot

Lithium is known for its use in batteries and treatment of bipolar disorder. But could it protect our brains from dementia? @sciencefocus has more:

https://flip.it/AbXabS

#Science #Health #Dementia

New: US food parasite cases up to 31,342 (per states), Ebola rages in DRC, Covid surges hitting US/UK, a vaccine for skin cancer, dating advice for skittish bisexuals with Long Covid, new US FDA nom is a virulent pro-lifer, health updates on Max and Sam, and more ⬇️

https://www.patreon.com/violetblue/posts/pandemic-roundup-167171246

repost to make netadmins mald

#shitpost

The brighter you are, the less you need to see.

Price inflation is measured in £/£/year. Therefore, inflation can be measured in hertz.

#geekpost

People have always self-medicated. Pint of beer or glass of wine on a Friday evening? Congratulations: you're self-medicating.

Young people are now taking illegally obtained prescription drugs such as #pregabalin and #propranolol instead of alcohol. The logic seems to be that, because they don't cause hangovers, the prescription drugs must be healthier. My own experience of pregabalin, taken on prescription for nerve pain, is that it caused unhealthy weight gain and neurological symptoms that made it impossible to do my job. I was addicted after only a few months, and had significant withdrawal effects, such as very dark thoughts and physical pain, which took months to dissipate. I'm glad to be free of it.

BBC News - The debate over young people taking prescription drugs instead of alcohol
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1d1lpl9vrxo

Metaphor: encountered someone, and rated them.

#uxbridgeenglishdictionary

Your last saved meme is now you moral philosophy

A good reason to avoid London's Oxford Street.

#surveillance

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/12/live-facial-recognition-cameras-oxford-street

My small British company was bought by Americans. I have just been formally reprimanded for sarcasm and sardonic commentary. I told the disciplinary panel I was grateful for the opportunity to reflect on my attitude going forward and would be certain to bear it in mind in future.

@fitheach I liked what someone said the other day: "Web pages are a pull medium, not a push. I'm not blocking your ad, I'm simply not requesting it." :-)

It's time to buy #CBD again, and I'm shopping around.

This tiny study of overweight men suggests that water-soluble CBD is much more bioavailable than CBD oil, and so I could make do with a lower dose. Has anyone here tried water-based CBD? In your experience, how does it compare to oil?

#AskFedi