I used to think this kind of thing didn’t concern me. But once family members get pulled in and citizens get scanned by association, it’s hard to stay untouched.
Is this really about safety, or are we quietly building something we won’t be able to roll back?
I used to think dependent types were the future, but once I actually started working on real projects, I realized they might be logically elegant and reduce errors, but the development efficiency really takes a hit. These days, I care more about solutions that are clear, maintainable, and easy to get started with. If a tool gets the job done, can scale, and the team can understand it, then it’s a good tool.
Just because AI sounds convincing does not mean it is telling the truth. I have believed something it said before because it sounded right, only to find out later that it was completely wrong. These days I never rely only on what AI says and always check the original source.
The most reliable way I have found to use it is to treat it like a smarter search engine.
I used to think sleep was just like shutting off a computer. But after one night of insomnia, my brain felt foggy all day and I could barely speak clearly. That made me realize sleep is not just about resting the body.
I have been trying deep breathing before bed and it seems to help a little.
I’m starting to believe that taste in code isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build after getting burned by your own mistakes again and again. I used to think some code just looked nice, but now I can explain why it works.
How did you develop your sense of taste in code? Any stories or lessons worth sharing?
Just read the article and it instantly brought back memories of when I spent days trying to fix a broken loss in a PyTorch model. Turned out I had passed the wrong optimizer parameters. I ended up digging all the way from the model to the CUDA kernel. Debugging took longer than training.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m using my phone, or if it’s using me.
I know things like notifications and vibrations are designed to grab my attention, but the phone always seems to know exactly when I’m at my weakest.
The moment I feel even a little bored or empty, my finger just taps open that familiar app before I even realize it.
Have any of you found ways to break out of this cycle of being led around by your phone?
> Sometimes I wonder if I’m using my phone, or if it’s using me.
It's always both. The phone is a doorway. On one side is you trying to exploit the resources on the other side. On the other side is the rest of the world, trying to exploit you.
Yes and my comment is just relaying what professionals have to say about the phenomenon:
Bottom line up front: the way out is to set aside some time for a menial task that isn't mentally taxing.
Screens are a particularly effective means of avoiding processing one's emotions. Those, of course, don't go away by themselves so if you don't take time to deal with them, you create a dependency.
The moment before going to sleep is typically when piled up emotions and intrusive thoughts return, so that's also when the temptation to set them aside is the greatest.
Resisting that temptation, but giving in to it eventually is dangerous, because next time the signal is stronger.
Sometimes my mind feels the clearest when it’s quiet. Ideas just keep coming when I’m in the shower, zoning out, or about to fall asleep. But the moment I sit down at my computer to write them down, they vanish. Does this happen to anyone else? Or do you need to speak or write things out to get your thoughts moving?
After reading this, I just felt like everyone already knows the data is a mess, but no one really cares. We feed the models a bunch of junk, then act surprised when they start getting dumber. Honestly, did we even need a study to figure that out?
One time I got a test done because my doctor recommended it, but insurance refused to cover it. I spent hours making calls, but no one could give me a clear answer.
That’s when I started to wonder if I was actually getting medical care, or just stuck in a system no one really understands.
Is this really about safety, or are we quietly building something we won’t be able to roll back?