[HN Gopher] You Are Here
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       You Are Here
        
       Author : mltvc
       Score  : 18 points
       Date   : 2026-02-07 21:49 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (brooker.co.za)
 (TXT) w3m dump (brooker.co.za)
        
       | ossa-ma wrote:
       | With all due respect to the author, this is a lot of words for
       | not much substance. Rehashing the same thoughts everyone already
       | thinks but not being bold enough to make a concrete prediction.
       | 
       | This is the time for bold predictions, you've just told us we're
       | in a crucible moment yet you end the article passively....
        
         | jdjdndbdhsjsb wrote:
         | Here is my bold prediction: 2026 is the year where companies
         | start the lay offs.
         | 
         | 2026 is the year where we all realise that we can be our own
         | company and build the stuff in our dreams rather than the
         | mundane crap we do at work.
         | 
         | Honestly I am optimistic about computing in general. Llms will
         | open things up for novices and experts alike. We can move into
         | I the fields where we can use our brain power... But all we
         | need is enough memory and compute to control our destiny....
        
           | IhateAI_2 wrote:
           | The one-shotted mind is truly hilarious.
        
       | stephenlf wrote:
       | > The cost of turning written business logic into code has
       | dropped to zero
       | 
       | Didn't realize this was science fiction.
        
         | geetee wrote:
         | I appreciate the author making that the first sentence.
        
       | IhateAI_2 wrote:
       | I feel like YC has a bunch of these optimistic blog posts ready
       | to throw up on the front page anytime something goes viral about
       | how LLMs are bad.
       | 
       | Software isnt going to become more economically valuable its
       | going to be used to replace economic inputs of labor with units
       | of compute.
       | 
       | Its entirely intended to take humans out of the equation or
       | devalue human labor and it always has. Dont be a fool.
        
         | pousada wrote:
         | What went viral? To me it just seems like people are pretty
         | divided on the topic which makes sense as it's an emerging
         | technology. I feel I see as many posts against AI as glazing
         | it.
        
         | kykat wrote:
         | To me it seems like the big question for the future will be how
         | to achieve political relevance as "the little guy". It seems
         | like with LLMs the typical "get educated" pathway for the lower
         | class is closing quick. I dread to think of a world where large
         | portions of society are essentially "useless".
        
       | mohsen1 wrote:
       | I am thinking about this a lot right now. Pretty existential
       | stuff.
       | 
       | I think builders are gonna be fine. The type of programmer were
       | people would put up with just because they could really go in
       | their cave for a few days and come out with a bug fix that nobody
       | else on the team could figure out is going to have a hard time.
       | 
       | Interestingly AI coding is really good at that sort of thing and
       | less good at fully grasping user requirements or big picture
       | systems. Basically things that we had to sit in meetings a lot
       | for.
        
       | monero-xmr wrote:
       | I own (cofounded) a medium-sized saas business with hundreds of
       | employees. I maintain final decision of everything technical and
       | still code every day because it's important. All of the engineers
       | use LLM tools, you'd be stupid not to. But I need good engineers,
       | I replace good engineers when someone leaves, and the business
       | itself is so much larger than just programming. The system is
       | just so huge and complex, and I am the benevolent dictator that
       | architected it and maintains its final opinions, that the LLM
       | does not replace the need for engineers.
       | 
       | Furthermore if we were truly in the utopia the author describes,
       | why do all the LLM companies employee (and pay top dollar) for so
       | many engineers? Why does OpenAI pay for slack when they could
       | just vibe code a chat app in an hour?
       | 
       | The challenge of building a real, valuable software business (or
       | any business) is so much harder than using LLM to prompt value
        
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       (page generated 2026-02-07 23:00 UTC)