But it makes me happy in such an immediate serotonin spike it’s akin to a drug. It used to be that I’d sit there dreaming every night of new things I wanted to build. It was fun to think, “what if I devoted the next year to this idea?”, but that was always met with the realities of a 9-5 after.
Now I can build those ideas as fast as they hit me. They’re fleeting fancies though. A game here, an app there. It’s fun to see but there’s so much more digital waste.
It does make me happy though. I’d rather be able to live my dreams than let them pass me by. I do wonder about the addictiveness of it though - that hit it gives you is very, very real.
Serious question: Does the ease of building cheapen the final product? Like something I've been struggling with is how can I show effort in the design of a product if I can just one-shot it with a prompt?
What matters is human hours invested. A tic tac toe game hand coded in 30min and a fully playable 3d platformer created in 30min both have the same value in my eyes.
You can make cheap things with AI, but you can also make things that are rich and have depth. That deepness though comes from days of thinking, reflecting, and iterating on the problem. It doesn’t come from a fire and forget prompt.
Two days ago I had someone on socials send me a message saying they had cloned my platform, and that they were going to undercut me. It gave me a good laugh. A prompt isn’t a product, it’s the first step of one. I’ve poured thousands of hours into the part of the product that makes it real - the administration, the financials, the infrastructure, the marketing, the iteration and refinement. One thing a lot of people are now facing the realities of is that there is far, far more to a product than just code. AI can’t one shot a business - that still takes blood sweat and tears.
jjcm · · focus · HN ↗
But it makes me happy in such an immediate serotonin spike it’s akin to a drug. It used to be that I’d sit there dreaming every night of new things I wanted to build. It was fun to think, “what if I devoted the next year to this idea?”, but that was always met with the realities of a 9-5 after.
Now I can build those ideas as fast as they hit me. They’re fleeting fancies though. A game here, an app there. It’s fun to see but there’s so much more digital waste.
It does make me happy though. I’d rather be able to live my dreams than let them pass me by. I do wonder about the addictiveness of it though - that hit it gives you is very, very real.
butlike · · focus · HN ↗
jjcm · · focus · HN ↗
What matters is human hours invested. A tic tac toe game hand coded in 30min and a fully playable 3d platformer created in 30min both have the same value in my eyes.
You can make cheap things with AI, but you can also make things that are rich and have depth. That deepness though comes from days of thinking, reflecting, and iterating on the problem. It doesn’t come from a fire and forget prompt.
Two days ago I had someone on socials send me a message saying they had cloned my platform, and that they were going to undercut me. It gave me a good laugh. A prompt isn’t a product, it’s the first step of one. I’ve poured thousands of hours into the part of the product that makes it real - the administration, the financials, the infrastructure, the marketing, the iteration and refinement. One thing a lot of people are now facing the realities of is that there is far, far more to a product than just code. AI can’t one shot a business - that still takes blood sweat and tears.