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Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

400 points · 471 comments · lladnar

  1. GPerson · · focus · HN ↗
    Programming is nice because you have lots of different scales of structure to think about, and your program slowly comes together. You see it improving over time as a result of your efforts. You also build your skills and learn. It’s really a nice activity.

    AI systems basically change that whole formula. I’m not sure how people get joy out of constantly vibe coding new projects. It feels like binge watching Netflix shows. I feel like there’s no material value in my 50th vibecoded demo since everyone in this world can vibecode now. Sure I’ve got my custom todo app which is nice, and my custom game plug-in with some neat features for the game I like, and a few other custom apps. Those are mildly useful to me. But every second I spend vibe coding something that’s supposed to be a success for others is just invaded by the thought that even if this thing is any good, someone with real capital can just direct a future AI at it to take it from me, so I’m not really gaining.

    So I think I’ll just stick to using AI occasionally, without letting it ruin the programming activity I love by spoiling it. Due solely to AI, I don’t expect I’ll ever do anything in my life which will impact another person. That’s a personal tragedy, but in a sense I was going to die anyways and so will everyone else, so it doesn’t really matter.

    1. vidarh · · focus · HN ↗
      > I’m not sure how people get joy out of constantly vibe coding new projects. It feels like binge watching Netflix shows.

      I get joy out of it because it solves actual problems I have that I don't have time to solve manually, or don't want to. E.g. I just recently had Codex add a mechanism for two-level virtual desktops because I wanted groups of them. An hour later I had two-level virtual desktops in my wm that worked exactly how I wanted it, with support for it in my desktop switcher. I could write it myself, but why would I? I love writing code for various projects, but sometimes I just want the outcome.

      1. jatora · · focus · HN ↗
        This. And the AI detractors in this thread are the same I think, and are virtue signalling.
        1. GPerson · · focus · HN ↗
          I’m not virtue signaling? I’ve shared exactly my experience. People experience reality differently and that’s not some affront on you.
          1. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

            [deleted]

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