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Be Wary of Digital Deskilling

calnewport.com

16 points by L0in a day ago · 6 comments

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throwawaysleep 21 hours ago

Is there a way to meaningfully be wary of it?

The value of skill changes over time. There was a point when being a dev required things like download size optimization and performance profiling.

How many devs today even conceptually know of those, yet alone do them?

  • kilpikaarna 20 hours ago

    > Is there a way to meaningfully be wary of it?

    Refusing to participate. May involve accepting lower productive output and thus "standard of living".

    Considering how society-at-large handled the smartphone, I can definitely see concern for general cognitive decline as a result of externalizing ever more mental activity to machines. As well as the concerns voiced by Frank Herbert in the concept of Butlerian Jihad.

    > There was a point when being a dev required things like download size optimization and performance profiling. How many devs today even conceptually know of those, yet alone do them?

    Way too few, with a general decline of quality and much waste as a result.

  • cootsnuck 21 hours ago

    To me, "be wary" means interrogate the intentions and motives of the people boosting certain technologies and applications of said tech.

    Don't consume industry "show-and-tells" unexamined.

    For me it doesn't mean "don't use AI coding tools", but rather when I do use them I should make sure I'm thinking about my own "agency" as it relates to the work I'm doing and ultimately accountable for. How do I ensure I'm centering my own skills as I use these tools and not off-loading "too much"? What do I consider "too much"?

    It's going to be different for everyone.

  • JohnFen 21 hours ago

    Those things are still very important at my workplace. Particularly performance profiling.

Havoc 20 hours ago

Not sure this marxist deskilling lens really adds much to the prevailing question around replacing skilled labour.

It amounts to machine does the work either way

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