Many programmers don't write long text; their way of getting a deep understanding of a problem domain is to build something, is to write code - in a process very similar to writing a long piece of text - it has the same reflection and externalization of thought.
The widespread introduction of LLM code generation is very destructive to that.
Perhaps LLMs can be brought to support human cognition in the same way writing can; but that has yet to be designed and it does not seem to be the way things are heading.
LLM prompts definitely don’t feel like “writing” to me in the way that writing a blog post (or even an HN comment) does or writing code used to. There is nothing to work out, you don’t really need to think. You’re _typing_ sure, but I don’t think it counts as writing maybe because the text that you write is thrown away.
I'm way more articulated now than I've ever been, because in the past I didn't have to -- I never write a blog post -- but I've learned that well thought-out writing, with clear description, will produce better code.
The bottom line is, prompting is definitely writing.
Idk man I get a ton out of gaming and other media. If I say “I’m a cinephile” no one bats an eye, it’s seen as elevated and intellectually stimulating. Your examples reflect more on the gate keeping we do with what’s considered “worthy of our time” and “art” than the value of LLM’s.
The widespread introduction of LLM code generation is very destructive to that.
Perhaps LLMs can be brought to support human cognition in the same way writing can; but that has yet to be designed and it does not seem to be the way things are heading.