Published 2026-03-13
tag(s): #yell-at-cloud #yell-at-cloud #link-post #programming
Via Lars Christian's website, I got a link to this
post: ai;dr by Sid.
The quote from the post that Lars shared caught my attention, I completely agree. Sid says:
For me, writing is the most direct window into how someone thinks, perceives, and groks the world. Once you outsource that to an LLM, I'm not sure what we're even doing here. Why should I bother to read something someone else couldn't be bothered to write?
So I went and read the post, which is pretty short. I use LLMs pretty extensively for work.
[...] I can't imaging writing code by myself again, specially documentation, tests and most
scaffolding.
Sid continues.
That's the first thing that gave me pause. Documentation is writing just like any other. Why
consider it a level below, less important or less valuable, than other written communication?
Or at least that's what I interpret, docs are fine to be LLMifyied, unlike more worthy
text?
There is more, though... 👀
When it comes to content....I need to know there was intention behind it. That someone wanted to get their thoughts out and did so, deliberately, rather than chucking a bullet list at an AI to expand. That someone needed to articulate the chaos in their head, and wrestle it into shape. That someone spent the time and effort - rudimentary proofs of work from a pre-AI era.
Welp, so much for the agreement. I established before, in probably too many words, that I am
of the opinion
that writing
code and writing prose are more similar than we sometimes give them credit.
So I would say that when it comes to code, I need to know
there was intention behind it. That someone needed to articulate the chaos in their head and
the requirements they have, and wrestle them into shape. That there was intention behind
it.
Sid again:
I'm having a hard time articulating this but AI-generated code feels like progress and efficiency, while AI-generated articles and posts feel low-effort and make the dead internet theory harder to dismiss.
I am going to venture that Sid has trouble articulating this because it is completely
wrong.
Which is a convenient interpretation, because it agrees with my opinion =P being honest, I
suspect we simply have a different view on the topic. 🙂
I expressed many times in the past (not sure if in this blog, probably yes) that I consider
"writing more code, faster" a pretty bad idea. Writing the right code (think
before you write), and the least amount possible of it has been my guiding mantra for a
while now.[1]
Touting productivity, AI involved or not, as generating more code, or automating the writing
of code, is misguided. Just my opinion, of course. And these days, one that is being
constantly challenged too.
Time will tell...my belief is that the lower barrier to generating code will lead to a ton of
low quality, just as it happens with generated text of any other type. Why would it be any
different???
It's not 100% on the AI stuff. It is a tool like any other. But there's ample evidence that
most people will go for the lowest amount of effort. And in this context, that means
"whatever generated piece of code that kinda works gets committed/deployed/published as
soon as possible".