Introduction
Points of discussion:
- What did you take away from Jeff Larkin's visit? Share your response in a paragraph.
- Question for John Miller
- Write two possible diary entries of a software engineer 50 years in an AI-powered future. In one, imagine a negative future in which AI has brought about undesirable outcomes. In the other, imagine a positive future.
- Write down what you will do this week to make progress on your Nogramming assignment.
Main Section
Takeaways from Jeff Larkin's Visit
So far in this class we have heard one side of the extreme from Cory Doctorow and another side from Elena Verna. Shuky leaned a bit towards Cory's side while still being almost entirely positive about AI. He was cautious about abusing AI but noted that learning how to use it is crucial. Jeff Larkin took that opinion one step further, expounding on its uses and pertinence. I asked a question about whether AI does more harm than good when used in the design process. I mentioned that AI allows such quick iteration on designs that engineers will never take the time to flesh out any ideas. While the time improvements are great, I fear the hidden trade-offs: lack of thoroughness when examining ideas and possibly missing minor bugs that would invalidate that idea entirely. Jeff had the opposite opinion, saying that the speed of the iteration will allow for such great speed improvements that engineers will not only be able to fully examine the leading solution thoroughly but will also be able to find the optimal one faster. I am not sure which answer is right, but in my own experience, when I solve a problem with AI, even if I am trying to learn how the patch works, I often become lazy and just blindly trust the provided solution.
Question for John Miller
Your podcast bio mentions you are a person who 'turns half-formed ideas into actual things.' What does your design process look like, and how do you keep on task and not let the projects fizzle out?
50 years from now in an AI-Powered future. Speak to a negative possibility and a positive one.
Negative - For the past 50 years, AI has slowly chiseled away at our humanity. Tasks that once gave us purpose and life have been usurped by the binary machine. AI still has not paid itself off, but the capitalists are in too deep. We lack a way out and are trapped in this negative loop. Everything simultaneously costs nothing and everything at the same time. I lack the drive to do anything because it feels like everything has already been thought of. Even the real thinkers have lost the right to their ideas. They are forced to hide them from the glare of the machine for fear of losing them to the mass. Starting over is impossible because it means admitting failure. The machine, while a manifestation of failure, cannot be wrong. Pulling the plug and ending it seems more painful than the daily affliction that are marring us now.
Positive - The gamble paid off. Big tech unintentinoally allowed empowered the individual. Those with just an idea immediately became just as capable as those in towers with servants. The summary of all our words amplified our voices. This utopia was made through the power of all the ideas that came before it. We are uniquely creative, and thus AI became just as creative. Struggles and hardship exist, but they are paired with two times as many successes and triumphs.
Steps to be taken this week toward the Nogramming assignment
Brainstorm five ideas that I want to do and five things that I could do to help the world. Look for the intersections of those ideas and pursue two ideas to choose from. Flesh those ideas out with more details and context.