Elon Musk Is Wrong (Simulation Theory Explained)

Can AI Ever Understand How Humans Think? - YouTube

What I believe to be one of the most underrated features of LLMs is the ability to convert imprecise human text into code.

In the past, writing a computer program required writing code - aka writing text in a very specific, tedious way such that it can be understood by a computer. A single erroneous character will crash an entire program. Writing code is difficult and tedious enough that it is a professional career that tends to require some degree of study (eg. 4 year CS degree, coding bootcamp), and the job can command annual compensation packages from $100k-$1m+/yr.

LLMs for the first time enable writing programs through natural language, ie. without writing code.

What this will do is make it dramatically easier to create computer programs. The technological jump is the equivalent of trying to talk to someone in Icelandic in 1989 (assuming you don't speak Icelandic), and then suddenly being given access to a modern smartphone with Google Translate.

Some implications:

- Anyone will be able to easily create or update computer programs
- Computer programs will easily be able to create computer programs
- Coding for the first time in history will just be done by regular human language instructions that any non-technical person can write. A disgruntled customer or product manager will simply be able to create a bug report or feature request, and an AI agent will immediately be able to take that and update the codebase (eg. submitting a pull request after testing and code reviewing its own work)
- Programming languages will become unimportant, because any language will easily be able to be translated into any other
- Coding will be commoditized

The human programmer is the translation layer between the human and the machine, and AI is automating that work away, just like it's automating human language translators.

*AI skeptic: So what? Who cares if some geeks can make computer programs easier?*

AI and automation are computer programs!

**AI is making it easier to improve AI.**

This is a feedback loop that results in exponential growth of AI. The more AI improves, the more AI is able to improve itself. Eventually this feedback loop gets so out of control that humans cannot keep up, a point known as the "singularity".

Humans are terrible at comprehending exponential growth, and thus I believe are drastically underestimating how quickly this is all developing.

Most seem to think that the job market for most people is going to be fine over the next decade - I vehemently disagree. I believe that AI will dramatically change society over the next few years and make the workforce drastically more competitive as AI starts to outstrip human ability. The labor market will become so competitive that UBI will become inevitable (I've been saying this for a decade, but never before has it looked so obvious and imminent).

The nature of work will move to a higher level of abstraction. Workers will become more like managers who delegate the "grunt work" to AI - responsible less for the nitty gritty of implementation and building tedious things, and responsible more for deciding what to build and where to direct the AI agents' focus. Just like fast mental math skills hasn't really been a competitive advantage since the invention of the calculator, doing any sort of repetitive, automatable work will not be of any advantage because the AI will be able to do it faster and cheaper at a speed of gigabytes/s, while being able to self-correct and debug itself. As tech becomes commoditized, humans will have to focus more on the "human" aspect such as marketing and zero sum games to economically compete.

The mistake that people who dismiss this tend to make is that they often believe that AGI is required for this mass societal transformation. I disagree. All it takes is for computer programs to be able to make the creation of computer programs easier to achieve this AI flywheel effect.

Anyways just some random thoughts here at 2:11am in Seoul.

LLMs create an Exponential Flywheel for AI Advancement

Hi I'm Jeremy. I'm building this site because I'm not satisfied with other online community type websites and their lack of innovation (see the /about page). The goal is to make a superior, more open, and more decentralized online community.

The site is still in early stages in active development (see the dev masterthread here: https://zsync.xyz/p/zsync-dev-update-masterthread)

Join us if this sounds interesting! Feel free to send me any feedback or reach out directly!

HN: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37345727>

Everything I wish I knew before moving 50,000 lines of code to React Server Components

Wavacity – a FOSS port of Audacity to the web

Apple is cutting off social media support!

"Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has a message to employees who don’t want to return to the office: “It’s not going to work out for you.” That’s according to [a report from *Insider*](https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-andy-jassy-rto-office-policy-employee-jobs-2023-8), which says Jassy made that statement during a meeting earlier this month.

While [Amazon ordered its employees to return to the office](https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/17/23604485/amazon-return-to-office-three-days-a-week) for three days per week starting in May, many Amazon employees weren’t happy about the decision. [Thousands of workers signed a petition](https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hr-chief-rejects-petition-against-return-to-office-policy-2023-3) against the mandate and [staged a walkout in response](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/31/amazon-workers-plan-to-walk-out-over-lack-of-trust-in-leadership.html)."

Amazon CEO reportedly told remote employees: ‘It’s probably not going to work out’

HN: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37301991>

WebLLM: Llama2 in the Browser

66% of Americans want European-style vacation policies, like being OOO for the entire month of August

It's clear that we're approaching the singularity, & most are drastically underestimating the impact that AI will have on society within the next couple years. Some predictions:

\- Humans will not be writing code by hand in a few years.

\- Workers will be expected to move "up the stack" of abstraction. Software engineers will be expected to be more high level product manager hybrids, serving more as technical business managers who delegate low level tasks to AI agents + cheap offshore workers

\- Rise in generalists. Expensive specialists are most at risk since AI democratizes knowledge + power

\- Gutting of the middle class, since most peoples' jobs are now very easy to automate

\- Rise in AI agents. Most of what you read online including on internet forums and in DMs, you won't be able to tell if it was written by a human or AI (already the case with recruiting). There is currently an arms race in AI agent development, the results of which we'll start seeing on society within the next 12 months.

\- The glory days of working in tech are over. Just like very other industry, it's only going to get more and more competitive. Salaries will at best remain stagnant. This is not specific to tech and will be the case for every industry. The industries most resilient will be those that require a human (eg. physical therapy)

The winners will be those who harness AI to their advantage, the losers will be everyone else.

I think most people are drastically underestimating the enormous impact that AI will have on society within even just the next 12 months. People are treating AI like a temporary fad or bubble, as if things will just return to the way they were before. But AI is not only here to stay, it's just getting started, and it's an arms race because everyone knows that AI will eat everything. Humans are terrible at understanding exponential growth, and most cannot comprehend how fast things are about to change.

Not trying to make this political - but I don't see any easier method of alleviating the hemorrhaging of the middle class than governments implementing a Universal Basic Income (UBI). Humans just cannot compete with a superintelligent autonomous AI that has parsed every book and document on the internet. We can continue to be in denial of this while our citizens suffer and overdose suicide to cope with the depression and bleak opportunities, or we can embrace AI and leverage it to free people to spend their time at their own leisure, moving society collectively up Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. But given how blind and reactionary most people are to this kind of stuff, I don't predict anything changes until we reach a serious boiling point, so unfortunately billions will needlessly suffer in the meantime until the masses wake up to the cosmic societal shifts that are taking place as we speak.

<https://twitter.com/jeremybernier/status/1695350480388714605>

Implications of Approaching the Singularity

I made a tax calculator mainly for IT contractors in Poland.

IT professionals earn from 4k - 7k EUR/month in Poland, where the cost of living is quite low compared to other Western EU countries.

See how much of tax you would pay as an IT contractor in EU, Poland

HN: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37250821>

Build a chatbot with custom data sources, powered by LlamaIndex

I really like this Japanese rap song, but you need to understand Japanese to appreciate it.

Basically the first verse is a kid on the playground talking about playing catch, his friends liking girls, and other childhood things. The chorus is him saying lets all play together forever, even when we're adults.

Second verse is a more grown adult in his 20s - talking about recording in the studio, having fun with his friends, on stage at the club, and "playing" everyday being his dream.

Final verse is a more grown adult in his 30s - talking about how time flies, his friends' jobs, those who've become fathers, others who've gained weight, and those who passed away (reference to his father who committed suicide when he was a kid) - saying one day they'll meet again.

The song is super nostalgic, I think especially for me since I actually spent some of my childhood in Japan.

It's a bit melancholic for me as well. There was a purity to childhood. But then after school you get thrust into the wild and have to make money. Some are able to make a living do what they love, but most can't - slaving away at jobs they have zero passion for for a paycheck (reminds me of this [classic Steve Cutts video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsjwrA_Oo18)). After university it becomes exponentially harder to make friends (unless one makes a conscious effort to), connections drift apart, people get into serious relationships and drift even further apart. The carefreeness of childhood turns into responsibilities, work, bills, stress, kids, etc. "Playing" and socializing becomes less frequent, with social interactions more resembling "networking" or "what can you do for me", and serious, distant conversations.

Of course that's a pessimistic take. There are great things about being an adult as well, and ultimately life is what you make of it. I think it's common for people to say that their childhood years were their best. But I will not resign to my best years being in my past, and will always strive to live to the fullest even into old age - always trying to keep that childhood playfulness, carefreeness, and curiosity.

KOHH - 友達 (feat. LIL KOHH)

The Midnight is easily one of my favorites bands, and I love that 80s style sound with the saxophone. Thought I'd heard all their music but just discovered this, and of course on first listen I'm already hooked. It's like they make nothing but bangers.

Other songs by The Midnight that I love (off the top of my head)

- Light Years (my favorite song of theirs)
- Lost Boy
- Jason
- Comet
- Cold Pizza
- River of Darkness

Love The Midnight.

Clubhouse - Kyra (The Midnight Remix)

Another really nice Japanese melodic rap song I overheard on the streets here.

Video isn't so great though.

Bene Baby - Real Life

I'm in Japan and been hearing some [🔥 ](https://emojiterra.com/fire/)music

百足 & 韻マン - オオカミ

The following is my current go-to tech stack that powers my sites like [zsync.xyz](http://zsync.xyz) and [mindgarden.app](http://mindgarden.app)

Article: <https://www.jbernier.com/p?id=my-tech-stack>

Youtube video: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz4VIJkA59M>

Twitter: <https://twitter.com/jeremybernier/status/1692236854907789666>

My Tech Stack (2023)

HN: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37148210>

LlamaGPT – Self-hosted, offline, private AI chatbot, powered by Llama 2

HN: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37137110>

Rama - Reducing the cost of building Mastodon at Twitter-scale by 100x

The dev of this is bloody amazing and this site is insanely nice and I really like it. If the dev wants I am more than happy to volunteer to be an admin/helper on here. 