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From: zen cycle <funkmasterxx@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: Facebook Account
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2024 05:41:40 -0400
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On 8/20/2024 12:27 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Aug 2024 10:53:22 -0400, Zen Cycle <funkmaster@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> On 8/19/2024 7:56 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>>> On Mon, 19 Aug 2024 20:50:54 GMT, cyclintom <cyclintom@yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> You knowing nothing about programming are probably mystified.
>>>
>>> I hate to disappoint you, but I know very little about programming.  I
>>> can do some programming when necessary but prefer to have someone else
>>> do my programming.  I also don't mix socially with programmers.
>>> Despite these limitations, I've been successfully self-employed as a
>>> computer consultant and computer repairman for 36 years (1984 to
>>> 2020):
>>> <https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-liebermann-151823/details/experience/>
>>> While knowing how to program can be useful, it's not a requirement for
>>> knowing how to configure a Facebook account, knowing how to login,
>>> being able to type your email address or login name correctly, and fix
>>> various Windoze software related problems.
>>
>> You made a slight error there, it should read "fix _your_
>> various Windoze software related problems."
> 
> Windoze might not be my problem in the near future.  Microsoft is
> doing its best to alienate its customers through various invasive
> features.  Since I'm now retired, I no longer need to support
> Microsoft products.  I'm slooowly moving my personal computing to
> Linux (Mint 22) and have begun using privacy oriented products on
> Windoze.  While my use of Microsoft products will probably never be
> eliminated (games, banking and taxes), I will be prepared should
> Microsoft continue on its present path (spying, advertising, privacy
> issues, bugs, etc) towards some inevitable disaster.

I will admit, if I had the time I Linux is something I've thought I 
might enjoy tinkering with. Maybe when I retire. I have way too much 
going on in my life right now to take on another hobby.


>   
>>> My knowing very little about programming was not an accident or the
>>> result of a head injury.
>>
>> Same here
>>
>>> It was an intentional decision that I had to
>>> reluctantly make when I moved to Silicon Valley.
>>
>> Nothing reluctant about it for me. I'm reminded of that every time I get
>> dragged into a SW design review (required since I'm responsible for
>> Functional Safety compliance).
> 
> With about 20 years of practice, I became very good at avoiding
> involvement in programming.  Claiming that I didn't know how to
> program did not work because management insisted that I attend classes
> and "at least try programming".  I would then mention that I've tried
> to do programming, but that I'm really awful at programming, mostly
> because I don't have the patience and am easily distracted (which is
> true).
> 
>>> At the time (1973 ?)
>>> the pundits and experts were proclaiming that an engineer, who didn't
>>> immediately learn how to program, would soon become obsolete and
>>> unemployable.  I realized that there was not enough time to
>>> simultaneously stay up to date on RF (radio frequency) design and
>>> learn how to program.  Since the herd was stampeding in the direction
>>> of programming, I decided that concentrating on RF design was a better
>>> choice.  There were times when I regretted that decision, but over the
>>> years, it has worked quite well for me.  Predictably, most of the
>>> analog and RF engineers I know can also program, but few of the
>>> programmers I've met can do anything useful with RF design. Meanwhile,
>>> the same programmers are complaining that their jobs are being
>>> outsourced to less expensive overseas sweat shops.  In the future,
>>> programming might be performed by AI's.
>>
>> The future is now
>> https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/29/mistral-releases-its-first-generative-ai-model-for-code/
> 
> Yes and the AI's are rapidly becoming better at programming.  I've
> seen web automation code produced by a 16 year old, which seems quite
> passable.  Sure, there were bugs and anomalies, but with the amazing
> speed at which an AI can produce iterations of a program, trial and
> error debugging suddenly becomes efficient.  I watched him fixing his
> Selenium and Python code, while adding a few features, in a few
> minutes of interaction with whatever AI cloud he was using.  When
> done, he switched to a different AI to check the code, and tweaked it
> so that both AI's considered the results acceptable.  This was all
> during a 15 minute demonstration in a neighbors garage using a rather
> marginal laptop.  I was impressed.  Never mind overseas outsourcing.
> The real competition will be from 16 year olds with AI cloud accounts.

We had an intern a short while ago who was tasked with writing code for 
a somewhat simple of test rig we were using for development. It required 
a rather large look-up table with several input parameters. He finished 
it in about ten minutes, and it worked. I said "wow, that was quick". He 
replied, "I used chat GPT".

Be that as it may, this kid _was_ (_is_ actually) quite bright - 
enthusiastic, inquisitive, and resourceful. I really couldn't fault him 
for using a tool to create the large table (hundreds of elements) rather 
than take the better part of a day to create the whole thing by hand. It 
would be one thing if he didn't understand what the AI generated, but he 
was insightful enough to point out a tweak to the algorithm in the code 
of the product under development would give better performance after 
looking at the output data from the test jig. The lead software engineer 
on the project agreed with him.

> 
> "The Scariest Movies About Artificial Intelligence: ‘Metropolis,’
> ‘Moon,’ ‘WarGames,’ and More"
> <https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/scariest-artificial-intelligence-horror-movies-robots/metropolis-1927-6/>
> 
> 
>