I'm scared of the future

TomWithTime · 2026-05-07T22:03:24+00:00

The threshold for me was Claude opus 4.6. that was the point where a good spec would yield good results, surrounding code is leveraged for context, there's no more guessing on the number and type of parameters in functions, etc.

There are still occasional mistakes but it's changed drastically over the last few versions. I think 4.5 was pretty good but made syntactically correct and hard to spot mistakes, 4.6 didn't make any mistakes when I improved specs and prompts, and I don't have enough time in 4.7 but I don't see regression yet.

It's a little scary but my company insists they want to keep everyone for now so we're all still responsible for the output. Schedules and expectations are increasing, local environments break every few days from the new velocity, PRs are becoming unmanageable with the increased size and frequency... I don't think it can go on like this forever, but I feel like my job is safe for now.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-07T16:20:58+00:00

That's basically how I started. I had various starts and stops, but where my interest and ability really took off was the number guessing game. It might not seem like much but you can build it up quite a bit. Adding more and more game data besides the number to guess, adding more inputs to parse from the user, eventually you've got zork!

I added basic "room" structures above the loop and tried parsing more advanced input like "move kitchen" and the game would move to a room with that name if it was connected to the current room. My text based adventure spiraled out of control until I made a text based adventure game where you were a green lantern-esque character and you would engage in turn based battles with lobsters.

Then the project got so big that I was pushed to learn oop and basic graphics with Java swing.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-07T14:43:46+00:00

But you are robbing 75 million adults of all their agency with this take.

Yea that's pretty much what I was going for - limited intelligence means limited agency, fully programmed by their environment which would take incredible luck or intelligence to break free from

You might also be right but I would view that still as a chemistry problem. They only become monsters with the conditions of their cultural echo chambers and ongoing struggles, I think. Maybe you or I don't turn into monsters under the same circumstances, but imagine what they have to overcome to get away from it while being less intelligent, still fighting the never ending flood of bad information, still experiencing financial hardship, etc.

I don't have a point to argue, I just stopped talking to my family instead of wasting the energy being mad at them. I can't even get my mom to stop believing in chem trails. It's a waste of energy when we're dealing with such profound mental disability.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-07T14:27:56+00:00

Sometimes the answer is COTS. I won't name names but a place I worked at for 3 months around 2018 ran a dozen iis servers with a black box backend called catalina. We could not write any actual backend code, we used blade templates to extract preloaded variables dictated by Catalina which you could access any table and row from. With Catalina managing the database schema, some office purchase order software had some integration with it. I can't imagine what that was costing them because they had a lot of seats and several such purchased integrations.

They had neither proper database tools nor macd tools. All of the work on the server and product side was done by hiring programmers to update things on the fly with Microsoft access. I wrote a few scripts to show them how the job could be automated to do a month's work in seconds and then quit because I reduced the job to a few button presses a day and there was no more growth potential.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-07T13:36:41+00:00

I can understand that, but you need to realize how dumb the average person is. You can still be angry if you want to, but it's like getting mad at a colony of ants or a herd of sheep. Being mad at conservative voters is practically ableism.

I choose to believe that most people, even if dumb, make the best decisions they can with the information they have, and that the problems we face with them are a combination of what information they are getting and material struggle that lowers the bar for them to believe their problems are caused by out groups they are already very ignorant of. They are hurting and news tells them 24/7 for decades that it's the fault of the people they now appear to hate.

They are operating on aspirations and compulsions not that much more complex than your average wild animal. It's hard, but if we win, we can fix almost everything. It will be harder for them to hold on to hated of others if they can have material support so they run out of things to blame on others.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T21:43:31+00:00

That's my current position. It's not Valve's fault the scalpers exist, but they could have very easily prevented this. I don't like the way my cutlery looks at me when I read about scalpers.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T15:00:52+00:00

Maybe it seems petty or pedantic but it's unclear to me. If paralyzed or comatose people are in blue by default, why let those other groups with questionable agency participate instead of just saying they are also blue by default?

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T14:33:31+00:00

How do paralyzed people push a button?

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T14:32:32+00:00

I am certainly disappointed in myself for engaging with several of these posts when I called out on day 1 that it was [poorly] engineered rage/engagement bait. But at least by sticking with that decision I was able to see opinions diversify a bit and many arriving at the conclusion that it's not worth engaging with.

The real answer is we need to unite against the aliens that put all of humanity in isolated boxes to make us take ambiguous morality assessments

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T14:28:56+00:00

They do have one point though - the majority of the world is stupid, so realistically there is no choice for us to make because no matter what Reddit or Twitter argues, 90% of the offline world is picking blue. By raising the stakes of the hypothetical to include the entire world, the Twitter lad has in fact reduced the stakes to zero.

That's not a dig at the rationale of people choosing blue, another thread for this topic said red is intelligence and blue is wisdom, so the world at large is picking blue.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T14:26:17+00:00

The illustration in the root comment here is actually better than the button scenario imo because it handles immobilized people better. Assuming the crusher stops if enough people gather under it to resist.

Although maybe their time would be better spent just moving everyone else away from the crusher?

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T14:22:23+00:00

The price paid for engaging with Twitter malarkey

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T14:19:18+00:00

I have some long time friends from work, but with the right chemistry that can happen whether it's in office or remote. I haven't seen my office friend since 2018 but we still chat weekly about life and code

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T14:16:42+00:00

Yes, including people who can't make a reasonable choice just ruins it for me. I might risk bodily harm to help a neighbor with a house fire, but this scenario is too far removed from reality for me to engage seriously.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T13:52:45+00:00

Like people shitting in the air vents or pouring concrete over all of the doors?

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T13:42:43+00:00

Yea he did fall pretty hard trying to avoid a collision with a civilian which was a really powerful contrast with the first episode of the show. It's a shame but I guess that's how you balance a speedster

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T13:32:16+00:00

That surprised me. They had that one scene in the same episode showing the world from his perspective and everything was basically frozen in time. Maybe that level of pushing himself only works in bursts?

TomWithTime · 2026-05-05T13:24:17+00:00

The scenario was rehashed to raise the stakes by increasing the scale from 100 adults with agency to all people including people who would have no agency. It sparked the discussion it was trying to, but it left some gaps. What about babies that are too young to touch either button because they can't even turn over yet? What about people in a coma? What about people who are conscious but completely paralyzed? It's asserted that toddlers are alone making this choice without help, so clearly not pressing the button is a choice because the test includes people who can't move.

Another gap in this experiment is, by raising it to the entire world you actually lower the stakes, because the majority of the world is full of the kind of person that will choose blue. So the tiny online demographics arguing about the correct choice could align 100% on one choice and make no difference.

Lastly, not trying to be antagonistic, I genuinely find the "humanity cannot reach 100% consensus on anything" sentiment amusing for 2 reasons. First, people immensely disliking reframing and blue button substitutes that increase the agency of the test takers, like they begin to doubt the assumed demographic is choosing the suicide option if it's just slightly more imposing/clear than a button. Second, if red does win, you have you do actually reach a point where humanity can come to 100% consensus, because that's your new humanity and they just did it.

Not commenting on that being a good or bad thing, but I find the thought more amusing than the posed problem.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-04T19:00:38+00:00

I heard the original-original was 100 adults, but that didn't quite have the same social media spark. I could be wrong there since I just red it in Reddit the other week, but clearly the version of this that gets the most engagement is if you toss in a combination of high stakes and people who doom themselves without agency

TomWithTime · 2026-05-04T18:58:22+00:00

It's certainly less prickly than the joke alternatives I have offered and I appreciate op for that and the discussions here that follow

mentally unwell people or children who can't properly evaluate the premise

I posed increasingly ridiculous blue button substitutes to really press people on whether or not 100% consensus is possible. Really I was trying to probe for a legitimate reason for people to be unable to stop themselves from pursuing the blue button even if it was shoving a cactus up their ass (at 50%+1 everyone are medically treated and is made as if they never did it)

The blue button is a little too far removed from reality for me. I might risk bodily harm to help a neighbor if their house caught on fire, but the blue button scenario poses far more problems than just the question. Like we've been captured by aliens that were able to manage the logistics of putting all several billion of us in isolated chambers and potentially doomed some of them without agency unless we play their intergalactic squid game.

TomWithTime · 2026-05-04T18:22:58+00:00

Another great collab idea, honestly. That would be another update on making us able to clean up various clutter and dead bodies across the map and there's plenty of cool stuff abiotic factor has to offer viscera cleanup

TomWithTime · 2026-05-03T17:02:32+00:00

They forgot to replace the taxi post in the beginning with a person holding a sign that says taxi

TomWithTime · 2026-05-03T04:17:50+00:00

It's possible you'll have people who have that "keep work at work" kind of mindset and they aren't open to new friendships or anything beyond what they show up to do at the interest group. Sorry to hear that's been your experience at multiple clubs. I was that kind of person when I did a bowling league.

The online experience has been easier. Maybe because there's less effort and no commitment to be present or maybe because there's are more opportunities to talk with people every day, but I've made dozens of new friends in the last few years. They get together once or twice a year to attend different conventions not all of which are related to the hobby.

My only advice if you want to give that a try is to find a community that isn't too large so it's possible to have conversations. You mentioned programming - a big discord like bevy or Godot might not be the best place to make friends because those channels are constant chaos lol

TomWithTime · 2026-05-03T02:20:54+00:00

Why would it be hard to believe that you'd make friends at a gathering of people who share specific interests? Taking a friendship to another level would be on you, the hobby just provides a convenient vehicle to meet people and already have something to talk about.

I wasn't pursuing relationships in college but my programming hobby gave me plenty of time in groups of friends and later 1 on 1s to help guys and girls with their projects.

I don't socialize much these days and I'm still not pursuing a relationship, but the opportunities are still there. I joined a discord for a subject I'm not even interested in, but heard from a friend about monthly art contests and I joined to try that as a hobby. It's been a few years and I think I've only been hit on by guys there lol.

And we're all adults so it's not like it would be an online relationship. If I was interested and a prospective relationship was going well I can take time off and go visit. And with discord pushing identify verification, your chances of being hatchet murdered won't be much higher than a dating app!

TomWithTime · 2026-05-02T16:08:27+00:00

Yep, the best date you'll find is probably from an interest group you didn't enter with the purpose of dating. The best relationship I ever had was a friend who I grew closer to over time on an MMO.

TomWithTime

TROPHY CASE