I take the point, but I think the author picked a poor analogy. Cooking even an excellent steak is actually not that hard. In fact, I'd argue that it's among the easiest things to master/make at a top level quality at home. Does it require some modicum of attention and understanding? Sure. But starting with a high quality cut, owning a meat-thermometer, and knowing about reverse searing is about all it takes to reliably and easily get a near perfect steak every time.
There are far, far better cooking examples out there.
I'm more of a coffee nerd than a steak aficionado but I've often made the comparison between those two. In both cases, the enthusiast considers their skill in making coffee/cooking steak to be a differentiator and they immerse themselves deeply into the process, skills, and tools. But for both coffee beans and steak the most important factor for a good end product is starting with high quality inputs. In other words, most of the work is being done by the farmers, the processors, and the quality of the raw stock (the cow or the coffee plant). Your job at the very end of that long value adding chain is to not ruin the hard work that others have put into it.
I'm not sure if this analogy holds up in the AI software metaphor that the author of the blog post is making.
Coffee is a good metaphor here too, because bad technique can ruin a good steak just as surely as good coffee. "knows how to use a meat thermometer and reverse sear" describes like 10% of the population or less, same with coffee - there are people who use a bad grinder and a not-regularly-cleaned Mr. Coffee with good beans and get gas station coffee, and there are people out there making solidly B+ class coffee using costco beans, a no name burr grinder, and a french press.
Edit for people who've never had good coffee:
"I don't like coffee. Can James Hoffmann change that?" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-iNAyu-ejo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-iNAyu-ejo
They have digital thermometers now that will map out the temperature curve and even predicted when the meat will reach core temp. You really don't need to use them many times before you internalize the behavior.
Since this is HN, here's the maximum technology option: <a href="https://combustion.inc/" rel="nofollow">https://combustion.inc/
They have a thermometer with multiple sensors in it that finds the core temperature of the food you're cooking automatically, and predicts the rise in temperature over time. So the alarm goes off when it's time to pull and rest, which is absolutely amazing.
I thought that too, honestly, before I had truly great coffee. I honestly didn't like coffee at all, and then a coworker brought in some coffee he'd roasted and prepared himself and it was lifechangingly good. I also made myself incredibly sick with the enormous amount of caffeine, it's been very rare that I've had to go home from work in the middle of the day but that was one.
That likely means that you've only had "bad" coffee. You're one of today's lucky 10,000 - go treat yourself to a decent cup of coffee it tastes completely different. The difference between a good steak and a bad steak is actually a good comparison.
Here's an obligatory Tom Scott + James Hoffmann episode:
I don't like coffee. Can James Hoffmann change that? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-iNAyu-ejo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-iNAyu-ejo
Sometimes it's a matter of not having taste for it. If you give me multiple bottles of alcohol drinks, I might be able to distinguish them, but I have no clue at all which ones are supposed to be good. To me it's all just alcohol. Same with coffee - but not the same for steak.
You'll start to taste the difference once you get that one really-well-made pourover at a place that _lives_ for the love of coffee.
There are some coffee beans that have crazy taste profiles when properly extracted with the right water. I had one that tastes literally like a peach and another that tasted like a really nice tea.
So I can taste differences, but they simply don't matter enough for me. My areopressed coffee with nice fresh locally roasted beans does taste different from a mcdonalds pot. Less harsh, less chemically flavored. But for me those differences don't really matter. They are close enough that I can enjoy both.
But I would say I know I'm also weird in that food temp really doesn't bother me all that much. I enjoy my coffee even as it goes from hot to cold.
A steak for me can be more easily messed up. But then I've not tried instant coffee so maybe I've just never tasted the bottom of the barrel for coffee.
Yeah Mcdonalds is, at this point, acceptably C-grade coffee. You have to go to something like a cafe bustelo in distilled water to get the full contrast.
It’s about experience. If you’re not into classical music, or jazz, or metal, it all sounds the same - how could anybody tell the difference? Only when you put in the work to listen to it a lot, different works, and actually pay attention, you will notice how your sense and understanding develops over time. Suddenly you’re able to make out differences, recognise patterns and repeated segments and structure where before there was none.
Or pick dancing: when you start out, you’re entirely occupied with placing your feet in the right spots at the right time. As you practice, your mind gets freed up and you’re able to make deliberate alterations, embellishments, larger figures. That seems impossible at the start.
Pickling a cucumber sure has a lot of resemblance - a great cucumber is good fresh and great pickled, but a bad pickling brine can ruin even a great cucumber.
MostlyStable · · focus · HN ↗
There are far, far better cooking examples out there.
MerrimanInd · · focus · HN ↗
I'm not sure if this analogy holds up in the AI software metaphor that the author of the blog post is making.
jaggederest · · focus · HN ↗
Edit for people who've never had good coffee:
"I don't like coffee. Can James Hoffmann change that?" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-iNAyu-ejo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-iNAyu-ejo
spiffytech · · focus · HN ↗
Knowing really is half the battle.
jmaw · · focus · HN ↗
OJFord · · focus · HN ↗
buildsjets · · focus · HN ↗
Ekaros · · focus · HN ↗
psalaun · · focus · HN ↗
ddoolin · · focus · HN ↗
pixl97 · · focus · HN ↗
jaggederest · · focus · HN ↗
They have a thermometer with multiple sensors in it that finds the core temperature of the food you're cooking automatically, and predicts the rise in temperature over time. So the alarm goes off when it's time to pull and rest, which is absolutely amazing.
aqme28 · · focus · HN ↗
cogman10 · · focus · HN ↗
I can certainly tell the difference between a good steak and a bad one.
jaggederest · · focus · HN ↗
inglor · · focus · HN ↗
jaggederest · · focus · HN ↗
I don't like coffee. Can James Hoffmann change that? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-iNAyu-ejo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-iNAyu-ejo
greengrocer · · focus · HN ↗
flaunf221 · · focus · HN ↗
nunez · · focus · HN ↗
There are some coffee beans that have crazy taste profiles when properly extracted with the right water. I had one that tastes literally like a peach and another that tasted like a really nice tea.
Or maybe not. Different strokes!
cogman10 · · focus · HN ↗
But I would say I know I'm also weird in that food temp really doesn't bother me all that much. I enjoy my coffee even as it goes from hot to cold.
A steak for me can be more easily messed up. But then I've not tried instant coffee so maybe I've just never tasted the bottom of the barrel for coffee.
jaggederest · · focus · HN ↗
Really, I get it, even bad pizza is still pizza.
9dev · · focus · HN ↗
Or pick dancing: when you start out, you’re entirely occupied with placing your feet in the right spots at the right time. As you practice, your mind gets freed up and you’re able to make deliberate alterations, embellishments, larger figures. That seems impossible at the start.
whythismatters · · focus · HN ↗
givemeethekeys · · focus · HN ↗
jaggederest · · focus · HN ↗