Thread

1. QuantumNoodle · 1785956641 · focus · HN ↗

   A hobby is something you enjoy the process of doing, not just the end result. Everybody likes a clean home, but cleaning is rarely a hobby. LLMs expedite achieving the end result. Take from that what you will.

   1. bawolff · 1785958419 · focus · HN ↗

      I think part of it though is that LLMs (especially in novice hands) create code that is more difficult to review and has subtler bugs. Code review is (for many) the least fun part of programming.

      Like imagine if your hobby was cooking, but you hated the cleanup. If you buy a robot that automates the fun part at the cost of making twice the mess, that is not a good trade off no matter how many extra cookies you end up with.

      1. juleiie · 1785958971 · focus · HN ↗

         What you need from LLM is recipe making.

         Main course is this this and this, 1. Do this 2. Plug this 3. Run this.. step by step plan.

         So you get a precise top down construction plan. Then it’s easy to split the parts where the coding needs to be manual (smoothing walls) vs where it can be whateverz (laying concrete).

         LLMs reward seeing forest instead of trees.

         This way one person can implement a whole new hobby project instead of only writing a single specialized part in an existing project.

         Good luck making a grand strategy game in two months holidays without an LLM. Now you can.

         People focused on the trees will however lag behind as implementation details matter less and less.

         Yes manual touch is still needed in some parts of the construction process but architecting the whole thing is the most important in 2026.

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         ADHD wins over autism in the immediate future. It was balanced in the past for development to need both but now it’s a total hyperactive victory of general knowledge, master of none.

         Specialists will be fed to the model weights, generalists will inherit the world.

         1. _dwt · 1785965473 · focus · HN ↗

            I think we’re on opposite sides but this is the first time I’ve seen someone in the wild share my suspicions that the LLM conflict is part of some vast ADHD vs autism hyperwar. At one point I was collecting posts I found where LLM boosters explicitly mentioned how it interacted with their ADHD.

            1. bluefirebrand · 1785972100 · focus · HN ↗

               I'm pretty skeptical of people who are ADHD and claim to be getting boosted by LLMs.

               It's hell for my ADHD, personally. It's an infinite rabbit hole generator and distraction machine. I have to use browser extensions to filter out stuff like Stack Exchange suggestions for interesting topics, too. I have had to block Wikipedia in the past to avoid rabbit holes there

               I'm better now than I used to be but I am skeptical of people who claim to both be good at multi-tasking and also have ADHD. My experience with ADHD is that multi -tasking is not a strength, it's a sign of distraction

               1. jrapdx3 · 1785978030 · focus · HN ↗

                  > ... multi-tasking is not a strength, it's a sign of distraction

                  Interesting point of view from one who's been there. Intuitively the comment makes a lot of sense.

                  In a way human multitasking resembles how single-threaded computer programs work. That is, we focus on one task at a time but tasks can be interleaved to give an illusion of doing several tasks at the same time. Managing several tasks requires remembering the next step to do when leaving one task to attend to another.

                  That suggests ADHD people lose track of where they left off when performing several tasks. Distraction plays a role, but I think problematic working memory is the major issue. Among ADHD researchers there's a saying, "people with ADHD know what to do but don't do what they know." ADHD task performance may improve with proper treatment.

                  1. bluefirebrand · 1785983176 · focus · HN ↗

                     > That suggests ADHD people lose track of where they left off when performing several tasks

                     Not quite. At least not for me. My problem is hyperfocus. If I switch tasks I might go down a rabbit hole and forget to change back. It is similar to being distracted, except the distraction can still be legitimate work stuff. My focus is like a freight train, it's hard to change tracks

                     Which can seem like an attention problem when you're trying to change me from focused code mode to "jump on a call" mode

                     1. jrapdx3 · 1786002085 · focus · HN ↗

                        Yes, hyperfocus is indeed a frequent problem for people with ADHD. One version is getting overly involved in irrelevant details, due to interest or having difficulty pulling away. The latter takes much effort and a good measure of courage. Maybe "rabbit holes" are kind of like that.

                        For many with ADHD starting tasks is hard and resuming a task can be just as hard. Constant experience of "starting from scratch" is burdensome, and contributes to inertia and inefficiency. More than not, a tough problem to solve.

                        I've long thought disability associated with ADHD is generally underappreciated despite decades of study proving the point.

                        Self-observation isn't easy. I always considered it a sign of growth when people shared what they've seen.

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