Print a massive log file in kitty/ghostty, and another one with you default terminal, and you'll see a massive difference in how fast the log is printed out. Well to be honest it's just comfort, I can't claim it makes a difference in actual productivity, for me the real benefits of kitty are just the terminal multiplexer-ish capabilities (panes, sessions), other rendering niceties like adjusting the font, or having smooth scroll, sensible default shortcuts. But the actual "performance" e.g. input lag or rendering lag, I don't think it's that important.
A snappy terminal doesn't prevent you from seeing half-filled screens. Flicker can occur when you write line-by-line. That happened in a recent TUI application I wrote. Using synchronized update mode solved the problem.
I frequently compile big software projects, using fast multi-core CPUs, like AMD 9950X, with which the compilation itself is really fast.
Such compilations produce a ton of text messages. With any classic terminal, the text rendering in the terminal window becomes a bottleneck, slowing down the compilation very noticeably.
With modern terminals that use GPU text rendering, like ghostty and kitty, compilations are done much faster.
Of course, with classic terminals you can redirect the compiler output, to avoid this problem, but I prefer to glance at the progress of the compilation, to notice early if there are problems.
Even in normal interactive use, there are enough cases when the difference between the instant rendering of ghostty or kitty and the slowness of the classic terminals is noticeable.
To see the difference between a slow terminal emulator, like you probably use, and a fast terminal emulator, you can do a "cat" from a text file of a few megabytes, and you will see the speed difference.
So in theory, can a hypothetical Astra clone itself but shed all irrelevant weights? I.e. "create a self-clone limited to 27B weights, focused on designing running shoes, forget everything you know about kangaroo genetics, Karl Marx, cooking Burmese curries, nuclear reactor design etc"?
If you follow this logic, we get to the true "AI-native" engineer which is ecstatically floating in a bath of dopamine-stimulating liquid, while AI reads their brain pattern and instantly builds everything they didn't even form a full thought about.
"If that sounds outlandish, that's because it is. We don't have such capable AI systems yet."
I'm not tired of work per se, but I'm definitely tired of what Internet is becoming: AI generated articles on AI generated websites, AI generated videos about AI generated products, AI generated emails inviting me to test AI generated features. AI generated movies and games coming soon. At work it's all AI generated presentations about how AI solves everything, AI on AI for AI with AI by AI, AI, AI, AI, AI, AI...
Even before the whole AI BS, my goal was to build and live in a self-sustained (as much as possible) homestead. We don't have kids so schooling doesn't matter. Also not very social.
It was always more "nerdy" dream than "independence" dream, as in, I'm more interested in the process than the result. We plan to build a fully DIY WikiHouse on a fully DIY CNC machine. Many planned furniture pieces are also CNC. I also like the idea of Farmbot, or some kind of automated aero-/aqua-/whatever-ponics container, though not sure it will work out. Of course, DIY solar.
I also enjoy growing things and cooking. We used to can, salt, cure and otherwise preserve stuff when I was a kid. I know it's all tough work, but tough work makes a man. I don't want to be a levitating fat puddle from Wall-E. You also need to build a good muscle surplus in your 30s and 40s to be able to work into 60s and 70s.
Ironically, AI helps a lot to lay down plans, find things I didn't realize etc. I'm sure it will break against reality in many many places ("You are absolutely right! I made a mistake."), but it definitely works for more mundane things. For complex financial simulations as well.
Before all came to this, I've been promoting reviews at $dayjob not as gatekeeping but as method to exchange information and build more team spirit. We are an internal service team working by "projects", which makes us a very disjointed team with barely any communication. (Part of it is also German work culture.)
And now this. Suffice to say, my efforts did not bear fruit. I feel more isolated than ever before.
Reviews were always meant to be about more than just finding bugs, thanks for mentioning that.
Nowadays I'll ask a question to, for example, try to understand why was a particular abstraction chosen, and I'll get a response from a robot, sometimes without even a disclaimer that the response came from a robot (it's still somewhat easy to spot due to the shape and style of the prose).
It does make me feel like there is nobody on the other side, especially working remotely, so I think I relate to your feeling of isolation.
Sometimes I care about how some change impacts the broader application moving forward, not really the specific technical tradeoffs for one construct or another, and that's, more often than not, very lacking.
It's not "AI bubble that will crash" but definitely some kind of deflation or correction that will damage a lot of investments. As always, common people will be most affected.
It's not "rogue ASI will kill us all" but advancements in cyberattacks, skill erosion, job loss that will damage us all. Again, common people will be most affected.
It's been 5-6 years with these things, how does anyone still believe that this will usher a new era of prosperity? Maybe for Sam and Dario.
Serious question.
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