Mike

Programmer • Data Analyst • Designer • Food Enthusiast • Opinions are my own • Pro-AI Regulation

[Mike @_mikeusa]

Provided is a free e-book for the essential read; “Introduction to Statistical Learning with Application in R”. A new edition is coming this summer (2021), which will add deep learning, additive regression, Naive Bayes, and more. #MachineLearning #ebook

https://t.co/uKy0EsPAm2

[Mike @_mikeusa]

@Aerosmith I know the band stop touring (we had tickets to the DC show) but any way we could arrange a meet & greet? Trying to arrange a b-day present for my wife.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

1. You’re discussing different roles: a developer and a salesman.
A business does not need the developer to be the salesman. It’s nice that you’re invested, but you must think about the roles separately. Salesmen and product owners have traditionally never been code-minded. They are feature-minded. The role of the developer is being phased out.

2. You mentioned psychosis and the political climate. Yes, life outside is different, but it always is. The intensity is mostly a perception drummed up by media outlets (including social media). Turn off those outlets, go outside—you’ll notice nothing different. Pause and ask if you’re being manipulated, and make changes if the answer is yes.

3. At its current stage, AI can create basic apps and troubleshoot fairly well, but I have seen contractors submit AI slop—and currently it is slop—for anything more complex, from algorithm choices to code architecture. I believe AI can be trained around this, but only if you (the prompter/programmer) apply your logic to guide it. You have to recognize when it’s not good enough and lead it to the right path using your knowledge and experience.

4. AI is being delivered at a discount. It’s subsidized pricing right now. Once AI companies have to pay full price for energy, or hardware degrades and needs replacing, and costs rise rapidly due to demand and rare earth metals, small- and medium-sized businesses will not be able to maintain AI subscriptions. It might be affordable as an upstart, but once in maintenance mode, cheaper humans may take over.

5. Court cases are coming. Governments and legal systems have yet to step in. People’s collective knowledge was offered with the understanding that other humans would consume it. The idea that we are freely feeding information to machine-driven intelligence banks may represent enough of a paradigm shift to require legal approval. I’ll add: I think everyone should remove any IP from open source. It’s sad, but don’t freely hand over your career.

6. Our jobs have changed and may be phased out. I am a doomsayer. I believe everyone in society is at risk—the only question is “when?” However, the best of us will know how to use the tools. Our educational backgrounds and experience will guide the deterministic and probabilistic engines down the right neural trees to produce the best output (similar to Google-fu in the early aughts).

[Mike @_mikeusa]

@Bas3dPeasant @ThePrimeagen That only means it is type *safe*

[Mike @_mikeusa]

@thdxr Forgive my naievety, but isn’t bun built on Zig and didn’t Zig have arithmetic overflow issues due to its fixed-width typing? — Maybe this was a thing of the past or perhaps I’m hallucinating.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

@xoaanya I’d like to think AI will 10X me, but in reality we’ll end up paying cheaper entry-level devs to do the prompting while senior devs handle reviews and legal checks.

My day is going to be consumed checking a barrage of code submissions, mostly good, but not absolutely.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

I have no idea what AMP is, but if you think TUIs are the future, you're living in the past—which I have partly never left.

AIs are not perfect. They’re not perfect because users’ preferences and needs change, designers’ preferences and needs change. Nothing is 100% certain, even if it is 100% probabilistic output.

Yes, you can ask GPTs to make changes to existing code, but you risk introducing new bugs and errors—it’s the wild west. You need an experienced reviewer, and if you have a human in the process at all, it will almost always be faster to have them make micro changes/updates.

Maybe in the future a human won’t be part of the process. That’s a different conversation.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

@davepl1968 @burkeholland Trust me, Dave. I will never be as good as you and part of that may have less to do with my coding ability and more to do with comprehending the OS and CPU Instruction Sets.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

Computers were supposed to usher in an age of enlightenment. After decades of personal computers, the internet, smart devices, and endless software revolutions, I feel robbed.

CGI enticed us with the promise of a realistic fantasy, but in so doing, it has dulled us of amazement and number our sense of wonder. When anything is possible, suddenly everything feels less special.

AI has made us more capable in a remarkably short time, yet I remain unimpressed by what we’ve chosen to do with it. The lyrics, the music, the images & video, the computer software … all of it is unimpressive.

I can’t act excited about your 200mi travel knowing you just threw coal in the furnace. Products increasingly lack skill & ability. They’re generative. They’re unimpressive. The more capable the software is, the less amused I am of its products. They become pure utility, which in no doubt can be advantageous and beneficial (especially in the realm of personal medicine & data science), otherwise I feel like I can get by with a wrench and hammer.

I won’t opine too much on the age of the internet. This topic has been explored ad nauseum. But I would be remiss if I didn’t reflect on how as a society our always-connected devices have disconnected us as people. To the point that it seems people have even lost touch with the sanctity of life; theirs and others. People act recklessly and lack care or remorse.

Computers, at least a small part, have robbed us of our humanities. I say this hypocritically as I write this on a “phone” and check its grammar with a GPT.

I have no solution, but a part of me wonders if the Amish and Monks got it right.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

@mattpocockuk Using TypeScript (unfortunately).

Spend more time writing obscure types that are difficult to maintain and that new devs don’t understand and so modify or create their own to circumvent the warnings.

Clean, organized, readable code with little time is a frustrating battle.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

I just spoke with @AppleSupport about a charging issue with my old/defective AirPods case.

I was connected to a young man who spoke English and didn’t rush me.

One can never be sure it wasn’t AI, but this is one of the reasons I still buy Apple. Culture matters and can definitely impact customer experience.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

I wonder if there will be a delay before AI takes white collar jobs from 2nd and 3rd world countries that may not be able to handle the electric toll. Maybe American workers struggling to find work in their industry will emigrate 🤔

[Mike @_mikeusa]

After taking a break to focus on my health, I wanted to take a moment to thank those who came before us.

Today, I’d like to recognize the creators and contributors of AnandTech —
@anandtech / @anandshimpi / @RyanSmithAT
— as I missed the chance to join in their farewell last year.

I have so many fond memories of reading deep dives into Intel and AMD CPUs, and the evolution of GPU architecture.

Some of the most exciting times?
When retail SSDs first hit the scene and manufacturers were compared side by side. What started as excitement over hardware quickly turned into discussions about drivers (remember SandForce?) and over-provisioning storage to address space decay.

Even today, there are so many technologies that could use that same depth of review. Not just computer parts, but also:
• Dashcams
• Espresso machines
• 3D printers
• Routers
• Smart TVs
… and more.

Thank you — for your dedication, your education, your hard work, and for creating something that made learning fun.

You inspired a generation.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

I would be cooked. It’s been a number of years since I’ve had to open up C or C++.

Everyone is saying no `\n` in the printf, whereas my mind was thinking the last line of the file needs to end in a newline, but I am probably confusing it with shell scripting or HTTP request headers.

Fun exercise. Thank you for reminding us dinosaurs the end is near :)

[Mike @_mikeusa]

While I think that’s funny, I think it’s a bit limiting to judge an actor’s fit for James Bond purely on height or build. Physical characteristics don’t always equate to screen presence, and presence is ultimately what defines a compelling Bond (or Jason Bourne).

Timothée Chalamet may not match the traditional mold physically, but he brings a distinct charisma, intensity, and unpredictability that many conventionally “larger” actors can’t replicate. He has a subtle command of the screen that’s hard to teach and even harder to ignore.

Bond has always been about more than just who looks sharp in a tux. The character is defined by intelligence, charm, and intrigue; not just stature. It could be refreshing to see the role evolve past outdated physical expectations — is Chamalet it? No one else that’s youthful (30s) comes to mind.

Ultimately, presence and performance matter more than measurements. If an actor can capture the complexity, edge, and cool that define Bond, that should carry the most weight. But of course, it’s the casting directors who’ll decide which qualities matter most for the future of the role.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

That’s what I’m thinking with regard to age.

I’d rather the films get away from big CGI productions and back into the storytelling & drama that would allow a suave spy to navigate and maneuver a dangerous setting. Psychological thriller over action thriller.

Too many people say what they want, but they don’t know until they see it.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

@Suzabelle130 @JeffBezos @RealChalamet Pierce Brosnan: Irish
Sean Connery: Scottish
George Lazenby: Australian
Barry Nelson: American

[Mike @_mikeusa]

This is well done, though it highlights one of my main frustrations with TypeScript.

I’m not questioning its merits—it has many—but I find the experience of learning and using a meta-language as a safeguard for JavaScript to be frustrating at times.

When stepping away from JS/TS for a while, returning to TypeScript often means relearning all the syntactic sugar it introduces. Understanding how it works is essential, not just for writing code but also for guiding new developers effectively.

TypeScript offers significant benefits, but it introduces a learning curve and adds complexity to implementation, which can sometimes make the code feel more cluttered. That said, it has become increasingly unavoidable in modern development, making proficiency in it more of a necessity than a choice.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

Disagree. Can’t speak to his other films or social media, but he was great in Dune, which has many parallels to the Bond character. From hand-to-hand combat to acting like royalty and fitting in with the socialites.

If you want a Bond that’s more of the same, go elsewhere. If you want a Bond that won’t age out and you can get a few decent movies with a new kind of cast, start younger with someone that can brood.

Otherwise you’re looking at someone like Theo James.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

@premium / @grok could you please assist or educate me with the “Draw me” prompt?

Under a basic account, I see the recommendation to get Premium or Premium+.

Under a Premium account, I see the recommendation to get Premium+.

The messaging seems inconsistent.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

I get the disagreement, but let’s not forget that Connery — who wasn’t English —returned as Bond in retirement. Like Doctor Who, a younger Bond could be a fresh and interesting take.

Chalamet wouldn’t rely on brute strength or theatrics but would embody Bond’s defining traits: charm, intelligence, and persuasion — essential for gathering intel.

This wouldn’t be a radical change, but a return to the essence of the character.

[Mike @_mikeusa]

@JeffBezos Timothée Chalamet @RealChalamet

He has the chiseled looks befitting of a Bond, which would be believable as an undercover agent.

He can play the serious role, necessary for the drama and could carry a tux.

He has the youthful energy, which the franchise needs.