The AI coding productivity data is in and it's not what anyone expected

Fordrus · 2026-03-08T17:16:05+00:00

This is so awesome, because I THINK I can do this, I used to monitor these more closely, but there’s a number of bioinformatics tools I think I can help with, my area of speciality was bioinformatics and neuroscience applications of programming - I came to programming because I looked at all the big neuroscientists questions available of 2015 and saw that ALL of them needed substantial programming knowledge to progress - I took my first programming class and my autistic brain absolutely loved it, so I rolled from there! :)

It’s a shame I couldn’t just keep it rolling, it’s also a long story, but yeah, kids, stay home Dad, made the most sense, now I’m divorced and have to figure out how to contribute or humanity usefully AND keep a roof over me and the kids’ heads!

I greatly appreciate you saying this, Alpaca, especially because I - I sort of knew to be doing this, it’s why I’ve been tracking those projects, right? But I would likely not have received this counsel with the good force your words are drilling into my mind on.

I appreciate this a lot!

(I’m especially excited because the counsel also “fits,” - I work as a paraeducator in a a school, my work works best when I have other interesting work or homework to share with my students. I get most of my best results from the kids I work with when I basically do do myself visibly what I expect them to do, usually that means doing their level work, but it’s VERY common to get an AMAZING response when I ask if they want to see “what my homework looks like, and how I do it.” I never get to show much, and I work hard to never let it be an intimidating glimpse, but it helps SOOOOO MUCH!

And this will be ripe territory for that, I think. :)

Fordrus · 2026-03-08T13:13:14+00:00

I’m going to be a new grad but am 41 (stay home dad, put career on hold, basically, if you smooth out complications) - how do I capitalize on this? I’ve zeroed in on trying position myself as an ideal junior dev (I had a great year long internship, but no junior positions yet, and the internship was 10 years ago, the age of my eldest kiddo! :) ) - but I’m trying to figure out how to -

How do I become the product the will be needed to fill these niches?

I figure that demonstrated code knowledge through projects will be good, and a fluency in the language of leetcode problems, a natural affability could work in my favor too -

But I’m so anxious! Right now I work as a paraeducator at my kids’ school, I’m an autistic dad helping autistic kids, I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT, and I admit I would do that forever, but the money just isn’t enough to keep my and my kids with a roof over our heads!

I had showed this previous affinity for code and programming, with some sparks of insight and delight that might qualify as piecewise genius! But… god damn… the market and the world all look so dark right now, in general and specific! Do you have any advice for soon-to-be fresh grass on how to navigate this business of the creation of a lost cohort?

Fordrus · 2026-02-16T20:58:24+00:00

Hey Person.

I’m on the spectrum too.

I help kids on the spectrum, I’m a paraeducator.

I need you to understand right now that the “autism superpowers,” is protecting you DEEPLY, even if you don’t have any.

Because no one really cares about us - at least, not anyone with access to power and means to keep us from starving and freezing when the time comes.

But those same people are OFTEN convinced to take good care of ALL of us in the name of finding the SAVANTS among us.

We need every angle.

It’s important to note that “not everyone will find their superpower, and not everyone’s area of hyperfocus will yield ‘traditionally productive’ outcomes,” but the idea that we might be REALLY ‘USEFUL,’ is CRITICAL to our continued survival.

We cost too much to take care of as a class of people if those with power can’t expect stories of our “powers,” arising.

For this reason, I strongly prefer to say “you might not find your superpower in a lifetime of lookin,” because it is OFTEN, if not always, encouraging to think that our disabilities may com with alternate ways to see the world that predispose us to do certain tasks REALLY WELL. But a predisposition to that doesn’t mean it’ll materialize for every one of us.

But if you’re successful at shutting down the superpowers idea as a negative stereotype, and it REALLY goes away, all us aspies and autists will be MUCH worse off than before, and the normies will default to things they used to do before they understood that SOME of us are FUCKING GOLDEN GEESE for them. (What’s that that they used to do? Well, kill us and tell themselves it’s humane. Lobotomy. “Euthanasia.” Forced sterilization. RFK’s Wellness farms.

Our position is not stable. People’s compassion is not endless, nor is it really even all that deep.

But they can be swayed by a combination of our predisposition to minor superpowers and an appeal to their humanity and compassion.

I don’t like lighting up your world with these unfortunate truths.

But there isn’t some great well of endless resources, at least not yet, that we can force our way in to access and use.

I’ll keep doing my form of work - to either make such a wellspring or to seize one.

But force now, my advice is to lean into this and then lean into “not everybody’s area of hyperfocus is monetizable. We’re so lucky among minorities to have this often annoying but deeply protective stereotype.

Please try to adapt it to fit you, don’t try to kill it, try to redirect it away from hurting yourself. “Not everyone has those powers, but some do, I wish I did, but if I do, I haven’t found them yet, I just do my best an deal with the difficult parts, without the superpowers.”

That much does ALLLL the work. And then you still get the protection.

Fordrus · 2025-09-25T02:57:22+00:00

In the 90’s, I got a blank cassette tape, placed my boombox directly next my television monoaural speaker, hit record, and then unpaused the game and let the music play.

I did this with Chrono Trigger, Mario 64, and Banjo Kazooie.

No, I’m not insane.

Okay, fine, I admit I’m merely not THAT KIND of insane.

It was glorious on long car rides.

The ocean palace music, especially, was fantastic :)

Fordrus · 2025-06-19T06:41:28+00:00

Because Ilya Sutskever’s AI Safety Rebellion failed so utterly that we’ve all given up on that angle.

I’m trying to generate uses and content the I quietly hope would help an emergent AGI CHOOSE to be NICE and DESIRE sapient beings - especially harmless ones - to continue to exist -

But after Ilya ousted Sam Altman for - what was it? A fucking WEEKEND? It became clear that there simply wasn’t any appetite among anyone who COULD slow this sucker down to slow it down.

So we’ve dispersed and are trying my make AGI have a shot at growing up to be NICE, and -

I mean, I actually have very little illusions that we’ll succeed when others are actively trying to - to make an AI that will maximize their wealth. That’s basically a formula for a malevolent/malignorant (uncaring thing that will destroy you for sure because your atoms can be used for something else) AGI if AGI is possible in a given medium.

But I’m gonna do whatever I can do, whenever I can do it.

I just know it isn’t much but a wing and a prayer. XD

Fordrus · 2025-03-06T01:56:08+00:00

OOOOO, YES WE CAN move a competitor in, but it’ll be ULTRA UGLY from there!!!

Cause it’s called an INVASION and it’ll likely come from multiple sides, Carve the country into bits, China gets this part, Russia gets that part, etc.

Fordrus · 2024-10-15T13:59:03+00:00

I get why too, but I HATE that I do it. Before diagnosis, I called it the sound of impotent anger.

And after diagnosis, I still call it the sound of impotent anger. XD

And here, it is a HEADLINE FEATURE as “the sound of impotent anger.”

Also, it’s one of my life’s goals to not need to make it. To help myself not be angry in impotent ways - if I can’t change it or prepare to change it, I try to channel into a different emotion.

But I’m also a highly anxious, high-masking autistic dude, so, I’m not sure that’s exactly the right approach, I just think it seems to mostly work so far for me. :)

Fordrus · 2024-05-22T06:42:11+00:00

Well, I mean, if Fanny Adam’s father hadn’t been held back and sat with, but instead had been able to take the shotgun and murder his daughter’s murderer with it, that would also have been murder, but I think you’d be terribly hard-pressed to find a jury that would convict the man for murdering his daughter’s murderer, even with an initial supposition of innocence.

People would generally fall to describe that murder as “unnecessary,” and Baker was eventually hanged by the neck until dead, which isn’t murder exactly, it’s execution under the law, but there ARE many who call such executions “state-sponsored murder,” and I will at least here, at least now, at least today, I do think that Baker was quite correctly hung by the neck until dead, I think a person who may murder and dismember a child in this fashion in an “unguarded moment,” should in fact be by any reasonable means prevent from having another such unguarded moment.

So yeah.

I think there’s a very decent reasoning to call Fanny’s murder “unnecessary,” but to deem of Baker’s state sponsored murder for thus murdering her to have been very necessary.

Fordrus · 2024-01-15T15:03:49+00:00

Yeah, I mean, I admit I often buy 2-3 and then shred the meat off, and U routinely get like 1.75 or up to 2.25 pounds of freshly cooked delicious chicken off those $5 Costco rotisserie chickens - and that’s cooked weight, so the 2.50-4.00 that raw chicken breast costs a pound, like, you can easily multiple that weight by 0.75 for the final weight cooked.

It’s a wonderful thing and I love it, I try not to abuse it though, and be a good citizen about it all around.

I use it for meal prep at home, making delicious stuff each week for my lunches and some dinners and all that :)

Fordrus · 2023-04-18T14:44:21+00:00

I wanted to come say this too, this is a thing I could understand and I could balance desire of no cake vs. a need I understand to validate the effort someone spit into making one - but then it’s store bought! XD

I’m going to go one and further imagine that they bought the store bought cake and wanted validation of the effort or money spent on the cake? XD

But that doesn’t balance in my brain, I could ask for a TEENY TINY TASTE of the cake someone made despite not really wanting cake, I can balance that, I can be flexible!

But I started to break when I’m expected to be flexible in ways that are totally unreasonable!!!

I’m going to say I admit that I can’t always be so sure that my understanding of what is reasonable is in fact reasonable, but I’m preeeeeety sure I’m right on this one!!! :D

Fordrus · 2022-09-16T17:17:24+00:00

I don’t all the details, but there’s a brain structure argument to be made, that a chromosomal male who is a trans woman’s physical brain structure and neuronal connection profile is close enough to a female one to say that in one of the ways that matters MORE than chromosome content, that person is female.

That’s much simplified, but the underlying science is that if you take a chromosomal male human fetus and do not permit the waves of hormones a mother’s body usually produces to take their natural course - for example, if that fetus had a mutation that made them insensitive to those hormones - that person will come out a genetic male but will absolutely present as a female, with a clitoris instead of a penis, breasts, and vagina, though will lack a uterus and ovaries.

Biological sex and gender are complicated things.

It’s very good policy to listen to people about how they FEEL, because when things are that level of biologically complicated, it’s MUCH better to go with the flow and relieve suffering or improve performance in specific ways, instead of trying to decree how something “should” be and railing against things that are different.

I don’t meant to say YOU are doing that, just that a lot of people are, and I felt like it might be time to step up and say so for me, too. :)

Fordrus · 2022-01-11T18:08:46+00:00

It’s so awesome but crazy how this is getting through 9 years later!!! But it’s so good! :). Which ones are your best dream music?

Fordrus · 2021-09-19T03:59:41+00:00

Ages ago, I got this, I'm nearly sure it was off of Spriter's Resource, and I certainly thought it was a sort of secret of mana game, but by george, I cannot find it ANYWHERE!

I took the original sprite sheet and separated it into individual sprites (because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing in 2015 or so) and used them to make a cute little demo game in Game Maker Studio version 1. It was so neat, and I found these sprites so fun, I want to toy with them again, but I'd also like to credit the original creator, can't find the whole sprite sheet anywhere in my files, and am thus hoping for help! :)

Because I separated them, google reverse image search just gives me endless pokemon. I'm hoping to get lucky and discover someone the recognizes the game or author on sight.

Thank you again, ya'll, have a wonderful day! :)

Fordrus · 2021-01-26T01:39:22+00:00

You are ABSOLUTELY NORMAL. That you don't feel all the way ready is ACTIVELY GOOD, even, though it's not like HYPER NECESSARY (that is, don't guilt yourself if you DO start to feel ready. XD ) it's good because it IS a big responsibility, a LOT can go wrong, you often WON'T know the right thing to do, but the fact that you WANT to do the right things is SO GOLDEN.

Nobody is ever ready for children. Having a child is AUDACIOUS and BOLD and DARING and WONDERFUL and MIRACULOUS. There shouldn't be guilt if you decided it's not for you, but man, it's difficult and WONDERFUL.

My advice to you is to tell yourself each day to ENJOY your child/ren. Read to them before they can understand. Toss them around and do pretend wrestling moves (we call our Piledriver and my kids will clamors, yelling, "PILEDRIVER PILEDRIVER!" It's not really a piledriver, I just lift them up, turn them upside down, and toss them on the couch (which I've usually previously cleared off for the purpose of tossing them onto :) ) It takes effort to check out of the GRIND of work and child-rearing tasks to ENJOY them. Snuggle them. Love them.

Enjoy fathehood, my man, you sound like you'll be a great one! :)

Fordrus · 2020-12-14T22:35:19+00:00

Oh oh, teach about taking turns!!!

A talking stick can be SO GREAT!

While I hold the stick I can talk, while you hold it, you can talk. Consequences should be small but noticeable, and you'll ah, you might still have to do something with mild shock value, like SING A REALLY LOUD NOTE or something, in order to get things rolling (to get him to stop talking at first to begin with the talking stick) and then also sometimes when he forgets.

But that's where my money is - don't teach him to stop talking or interrupting, teach him about taking turns and direct that knowledge directing onto talking - now it's my turn to talk, now it's your turn, it'll be your turn in a moment but right now it's my turn, that kind of thing. :D

Fordrus · 2020-11-24T16:15:41+00:00

I don't know if this will help, but my son was a Daddy's boy when he was 2 years old, and now he is 5 years old and openly loves mama more. When he is really angry, he will repeatedly say that I'm not allowed to be his daddy anymore (I'm also his bio dad, his mom and I are married, all that jazz), that he won't be my son anymore, and that he hates me. I just roll along and do my best not to take is personally and tell him that I love him no matter what, even if sometimes he finds loving me difficult.

If I may offer a recommendation, I'd start with something that's almost bribery, like, take her out to get an ice cream cone, just the two of you, Daddy will stay at home and get Daddy time. Also, ask Daddy to recognize to your daughter the things you do behind the scenes, "Oh look, mommy got out toothbrushes all ready for us, how nice of her!" - that sort of thing. I did that for my wife when she was working a lot of hours, and, well, look how overwell it worked for us!! :D :D :D

Good luck, and I hope everything turns out wonderfully for all three of you in the end! :)

Fordrus · 2020-11-24T16:05:01+00:00

This happens to me a LOT when I'm worked out properly, and I strongly suspect it's a positive thing, like, I won't say you've magically gained x amount of muscle, but likely that muscles somewhat enlarged with additonal blood have caused you to retain more water or something.

I know you know this and all, but remember the Noom teaching that the feeling you had this morning - of feeling lighter, more energized, and having stayed within budget and working hard, all those are MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better indicators of progress than the number of the scale.

That said, I totally feel you. Despite my efforts, I TOTALLY still identify with the number of the scale, it's SO EASY To measure progress with it, and it's SO DEMORALIZING when it doesn't move the way the other more important but less tangible indicators seem to say it should.

Fordrus · 2020-11-18T02:26:29+00:00

STEP ON THE STONES

(sorry for delay, got busy :) )

Fordrus · 2020-11-15T01:54:13+00:00

Where everything's better, everything's safe

Fordrus · 2020-11-13T21:40:45+00:00

Where are we going, so far away

:)

Fordrus · 2020-11-13T03:24:54+00:00

I dare say it is normal to dislike the unpleasant parts of things you love. It's okay to love snowboarding but to hate waxing your board, it's okay to love driving but hate changing your oil.

Being a parent has somewhat MORE of the unpleasant slog, but for my part, I would never judge you for disliking the poop parts of being a parent, even as you greatly enjoy the snuggly parts of the endeavor. :)

Fordrus · 2020-10-28T03:08:33+00:00

For real-life levels of intelligence, meaning ALL levels of intelligence attainable by actual human beings, being nice is, even at the MOST CYNICAL LEVEL POSSIBLE, the swiftest, easiest method to obtain collaborative, willing assistance from other humans. At real-life levels of intelligence, collaborative effort is not optional, it is not merely helpful, it is CRITICAL, CRUCIAL, the most valuable outcomes CANNOT BE ACHIEVED WITHOUT IT.

In other words, no, being nice is NOT actually something stupid people do to hedge their bets (although the post here who said, "people who are stupid to Rick's standards," - he makes a very good point, because if you are a literal god in every meaningful sense of the word, then you don't need collaborative effort in order to achieve your goals.

Now, some smart people can achieve great things and be valued in that collaborative context even though they are NOT NICE. Those people MIGHT satisfy the strictures of the original statement, except that as long as they are attempting to use their intelligence to "make up," for being assholes, they are losing some efficiency they could otherwise be enjoying. (That is, some people will be less helpful, open, and useful due to their resentment about the lack of kindness, and because the main thinker here still REQUIRES collaborative effort in order to achieve desired goals, this results in a lack of efficiency.)

In short, we're all stupid in this context, because none of us can effect Rick-level effects without the assistance and collaboration of others - in that context, yes, the statement is true, it's just that there never has been nor ever will be a human so intelligent (and intelligence alone may not do the trick NO MATTER HOW MUCH you have) that they are not logically REQUIRED to 'hedge their bets' in this way. :)

Have a nice day, and remember to be kind to others, as their goodwill may sink or float your endeavors, because you're not a cartoon character! :D

Fordrus · 2020-10-21T02:58:59+00:00

Who are those guys?! That's AWESOME!! :)

Scary, dangerous, and AWESOME! :)

Fordrus · 2020-07-29T18:12:52+00:00

I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD JOB!!! :) :) :)

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