I first learned how to program in 1984 at 14. The tech press said I'd be obsolete by 25, due to age.
About 1990 tech press said the Japanese were building fifth generation computers to make me obsolete.
In 2000, the dot com bubble bursting was said to make me obsolete.
There's been neural networks, no-code, and more, since then, to make me obsolete.
Now it's LLMs.
Excuse me while I sit here and don't panic.
@liwLars Wirzenius I do think there are some reasons to worry - but not about skilled programmers losing their privileged position in the job market.
My impression is that a lot of the frenzied discourse is caused by two facts: 1) a few corporations are spending ridiculous amounts of money, and some of it on propagandizing, and 2) these LLM techniques do have some kernel of utility for some software engineering-related tasks.
I enjoyed the perspectives in this recent conversation: https://dair-community.social/@timnitGebru/116237328338979566
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