Johz's recent activity
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Comment on Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-through after man orders 18,000 waters in ~food
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Comment on What are your favorite and least favorite airports? in ~transport
Johz LinkI've been enjoying flying from BER recently. There's a train station directly in the airport that's very accessible, and they've got the new scanners that make security very comfortable and...I've been enjoying flying from BER recently. There's a train station directly in the airport that's very accessible, and they've got the new scanners that make security very comfortable and relaxed. There are drinking fountains (never enough, but I know where they are now), and it's fairly easy to find your gate and fairly comfortable once you're there. It gets the basics right, and I think that should be more appreciated, because I've been through a lot of airports that can't even manage that...
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Comment on What are your favorite and least favorite airports? in ~transport
Johz Link ParentManchester Airports Group - they own Manchester and Stansted (and I thought Birmingham was well, but apparently only East Midlands), and they are all awful. I used to have to fly through a...Manchester Airports Group - they own Manchester and Stansted (and I thought Birmingham was well, but apparently only East Midlands), and they are all awful. I used to have to fly through a Manchester a lot, and Terminal 3 there is basically like you describe at Stansted, but without even the shopping mall - just high security labyrinths where you hope a plane will appear at some point.
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Comment on What are your favorite and least favorite airports? in ~transport
Johz Link ParentTegel was like this for a long time as well, until it got replaced by the new airport. Each gate had its own waiting area and security setup. In some ways it was more convenient because you only...Tegel was like this for a long time as well, until it got replaced by the new airport. Each gate had its own waiting area and security setup. In some ways it was more convenient because you only need to go through security for your gate, which means fewer people, but also each gate was much less efficient and the costs were surely enormous to staff each gate separately like that.
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Comment on What are your favorite and least favorite airports? in ~transport
Johz Link ParentThem's fighting words! Every time I've come through Frankfurt, I've got lost getting in or out of the building, or wandering between locations. The last time, I was looking for a particular...FRA
Them's fighting words!
Every time I've come through Frankfurt, I've got lost getting in or out of the building, or wandering between locations. The last time, I was looking for a particular station, and I, along with multiple other, independent groups of people, ended up missing it because we needed to go through a closed, unmarked service door to get to the right place.
The rest of the airport is fine - I'm not a fan of the food, but for airport food it isn't the worst, and like you say, you get some good views of the planes - but I just don't understand their complete inability to put basic signage up to show you where you're going!
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Comment on Forums are still alive, active, and a treasure trove of information in ~tech
Johz Link ParentThe forums I used to use often had strict rules about signatures, where images were completely disabled and there was a max height of four lines. This gave you enough space to create a unique...The forums I used to use often had strict rules about signatures, where images were completely disabled and there was a max height of four lines. This gave you enough space to create a unique identity out of the signature, but still avoided too much chaos.
That said, I can't imagine signatures really working in a threaded environment, partly because the width of the message changes so much, and partly because threaded discussions are often compressed into much smaller space than flat discussions.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~music
Johz LinkTry looking in second hand shops or charity shops, perhaps? When I was a kid (~30 years ago), my parents had a record player with various children's records that I'm told we used to listen to (as...Try looking in second hand shops or charity shops, perhaps? When I was a kid (~30 years ago), my parents had a record player with various children's records that I'm told we used to listen to (as well as other records as well). Most of those have ended up in various charity shops, or possibly online.
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Comment on How social media shortens your life in ~tech
Johz Link ParentI was also a voracious reader as a kid, and much like YouTube videos, I feel like there's both the edifying kind and the unedifying ones that just eat away your time without adding anything of...I was also a voracious reader as a kid, and much like YouTube videos, I feel like there's both the edifying kind and the unedifying ones that just eat away your time without adding anything of value. I do think it is harder to read books than it is to watch a YouTube video, which means that I'm less likely to get trapped in a "book hole" like I might get trapped in a YouTube hole, but I think in both cases what's needed is discernment.
For YouTube, I simply blocked YouTube Shorts entirely (I think via a ublock query I found somewhere). The edifying/draining ratio is just too low that I do not want to see those videos ever. For the rest of YouTube, I try and notice how I feel after having watched a video. If I'm not really making it to the end, or at the end of it I just feel a bit dull, then I know not to watch more of those sorts of videos. In some cases I've unsubscribed from channels or even blocked them on YouTube to keep my feed a bit cleaner with videos I'm actually enjoying.
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Comment on The hater's guide to the AI bubble in ~finance
Johz Link ParentSure, but most of the time you don't need to maintain or expand your code, at least in the cases I'm talking about. In fact, I would guess that most code outside of professional projects is...The problem, just as with the LLM code, is once you needed to dig in and maintain or expand an existing thing, it falls apart rapidly and now you need a specialist to dive deep and reverse-engineer a codebase with 0 commments.
Sure, but most of the time you don't need to maintain or expand your code, at least in the cases I'm talking about. In fact, I would guess that most code outside of professional projects is written once, and then either appended to or rewritten entirely if changes are needed. I'm thinking about research software, bash scripts to manage your local environment, IFTTT-style glue scripts, hell even my mechanical keyboard needs to be programmed to get the most out of it.
And you're right, low-code solutions have existed for a long time, but they tend to be very limited because they can only do what has been programmed in by the designer. The advantage of LLMs here is that their output is standard code, which means if it can be programmed, you can (in theory) get an LLM to write it. This is also why tools like Scratch aren't really the answer: they're too basic if you're someone who enjoys programming, and they're too limiting to be useful if you're not interested in programming and just want to get stuff done. And someone needs to have preprogrammed all the behaviours you're interested in: there's no Scratch module for programming your keyboard, for example.
I agree that in theory, anyone can learn how to program. Most people, however, don't want to. So the question becomes: how can someone who has no desire to program at all still be fully in control of their own computer? And not just in the "you own all the software (but you've got no idea how it works and you can't change it)" FOSS sense, but in the "you own a device that can truly do anything you think of, and you can come up with more things for it to do" sense. I think LLMs represent a serious step forwards in the regard.
Fundamentally, I think this is an HCI thing. Go back to the 1970s and '80s and show researchers back then a way of telling your computer to do stuff that used natural language, was iterative, and used your own workspace as its context. They'd truly have thought you'd solved personal computing. I think that's the most underappreciated part of LLMs, and I suspect once the hype dies down, it's going to be one of the parts that most changes how we use computers long-term.
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Comment on The hater's guide to the AI bubble in ~finance
Johz Link ParentI work in web development, and building proofs of concept to show how a particular feature might work or to explore whether something is feasible is definitely part of that. It's not something I...I work in web development, and building proofs of concept to show how a particular feature might work or to explore whether something is feasible is definitely part of that. It's not something I do every day, but it something that happens regularly.
That said, it's not something I'm good at: like you, I like doing things "properly", taking my time, and learning something in the process. I see this particularly in little side projects: I'll spend a couple of hours setting up type-checking and proper minification for a twenty line JS script for my blog. It's interesting to me, but beyond that it's rarely productive, especially as I'm going to write that script once and then almost certainly never change it for the rest of its life.
This sort of stuff seems to be one of the places that LLM coding systems shine: hacky solutions that don't need to be maintained, because they wouldn't be maintained in the first place. And that's a lot of code. I think those of us with careers in software development further just how much code can get way with being bad or mediocre code.
That's what I mean when I talk about democratisation. People cannot run their own code unless they can write their own code, and most people (a) would benefit from being able to write little bits of hacky code to link things in their computer, and (b) cannot write code. There have been a bunch of solutions to that (visual coding, YAML configuration files, etc), but the benefit of LLMs is that you can now essentially program in natural language: tell your computer exactly what you want it to do, and let it figure out how to make that happen.
FWIW, I don't use LLMs to program at all myself. I use them occasionally as a replacement for Google for things that I know Google won't be good at ("what word am I thinking of", etc), and for copy editing, and I find it very useful for these sorts of things. On the other hand, the rise of agentic programming has all happened while I've been on parental leave, so I've not really had much chance to try that out. I know some developers that I respect a lot have gotten a lot out of their LLM usage, but I know others who have found it more hindrance than help, so I've not really made up my mind on how useful it is for professional programming. (In other words: I certainly don't think I've drunk any kool-aid!)
But I do strongly believe that for lay computer users, natural-language has been an HCI holy grail for decades, and it finally feels like something realistic, as opposed to a feature of science fiction. That's not to say that everything's perfect yet, but stories like Steven Mould's really demonstrate what the potential of LLMs can be for non-developers.
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Comment on The hater's guide to the AI bubble in ~finance
Johz Link ParentProfessionally, I can't really speak to the other things you mentioned, but in regards to this: I can't disagree with you more here. A lot of software engineering is knowing when you make software...LLMs can definitely help people hastily create PoC code, unit tests, crappy text, bloated prose, and a whole lot more. But I don't want to consume any of that. If you give a single flying fuck about what you're making and you put it together by hand, I'd rather consume that.
Professionally, I can't really speak to the other things you mentioned, but in regards to this: I can't disagree with you more here. A lot of software engineering is knowing when you make software that's maintainable in the long term, and when to make crappy PoCs that will only run a few times, and a lot of code is the latter. Getting something that works and demonstrates that what you want is achievable is a really useful skill, and being able to automate that is an incredibly powerful tool.
More importantly, it can represent the democratisation of computing. I watched a Steven Mould video the other day where he got hold of a device that could only be used by programming a microcontroller - a skill that he did not have at all. With the help of some coding AI, he was able to get it working just fine, and deliberate a handful of really cool ways the device could be used. He didn't need high-quality, artisanal code. He needed something that worked and made his computer do what he wanted. That is incredible! That has been the basic goal of HCI since Douglas Englebert sat down and gave the mother of all demos.
I agree that there are all sorts of ethical and social issues that need to be dealt with. But I don't get this argument that LLMs are not incredibly useful.
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Comment on The hater's guide to the AI bubble in ~finance
Johz Link ParentRight, that's the bit I disagree about. As I understand it, the API pricing for most of these services roughly corresponds to the real cost of serving those requests, and the per-month...Right, that's the bit I disagree about. As I understand it, the API pricing for most of these services roughly corresponds to the real cost of serving those requests, and the per-month subscriptions are similarly profitable as long as you put in sensible rate limits. And currently those prices are fairly reasonable right now.
Like I said, I think the biggest expense right now for these companies is the research and training needed to stay ahead of the curve and bring out their next generation of LLM. And I suspect over time, that expense will go down proportionally as these companies begin to max out what LLMs are reasonably capable of.
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Comment on The hater's guide to the AI bubble in ~finance
Johz Link ParentI think this is going to depend a lot on how much that $50 ends up being. Bear in mind that there's a lot of range to these models, from ones that you can run on your laptop for free, to ones that...How many boomers would really be willing to shell out $50 bucks a month to churn out pictures of Jesus made of fruit?
I think this is going to depend a lot on how much that $50 ends up being. Bear in mind that there's a lot of range to these models, from ones that you can run on your laptop for free, to ones that are tremendously expensive. I suspect the "pictures of Jesus made of fruit" market will be pretty satisfied with cheap models that can be run as a kind of loss leader. And for professionals, $50 a month isn't that much, assuming what you get out of that is genuinely useful.
The bigger question is how much training costs are going to change. The impression I get is that the current prices are fairly sustainable in the sense that, say, Anthropic's $20/mo tier largely covers the cost of running the LLM queries being made. But right now, everyone needs to be spending a lot on research and training for the next model, otherwise they'll be left behind, and that's what's unsustainable. Presumably, at some point, the improvements between generations will not be worth the cost of that research, at which point it will be possible to concentrate only on selling access to a pre-trained model, which is right now the sustainable part of the business.
I agree that we're in a bubble right now, and a lot of AI stuff is being sold just because AI sounds cool, but hype cycles are nothing new. What's interesting this time is that, even outside of the hype cycle, the underlying technology still seems very useful.
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Comment on How is Linux these days? in ~comp
Johz Link ParentTo provide a counterpoint, at almost every webdev place I've worked, pretty much all the devs except for a very small handful used Linux. Most people who didn't used MacOS, and some people used...To provide a counterpoint, at almost every webdev place I've worked, pretty much all the devs except for a very small handful used Linux. Most people who didn't used MacOS, and some people used Windows for reasons I cannot fathom.
The place I'm at now uses MacOS. and I can't say I'm a fan but it works well enough - all the tools are there that I need.
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Comment on What Danish climate migration drama, Families Like Ours, gets wrong about rising sea levels in ~tv
Johz Link ParentIt feels a lot like the discussions about Civil War that complained that the backstory wasn't clear enough or didn't make sense. I haven't watched Families Like Ours, but it certainly sounds like...It feels a lot like the discussions about Civil War that complained that the backstory wasn't clear enough or didn't make sense. I haven't watched Families Like Ours, but it certainly sounds like the point of the premise is more to set up an interesting dilemma than to be a realistic theory of what might happen.
It's like sci-fi in the vein of Flowers for Algernon: you're not meant to read that and then start working on a magic drug to make people smart, you're meant to read it and think about the themes of identity and self and existence. Trying to focus on the science is missing the point of the book entirely.
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Comment on Why free buses in NYC could backfire horribly in ~transport
Johz Link ParentYeah, this is exactly the issue. Assuming (very naively!) that you can either make public transport cheaper, or expand and improve the network, 9/10 times I would choose to expand and improve the...Yeah, this is exactly the issue. Assuming (very naively!) that you can either make public transport cheaper, or expand and improve the network, 9/10 times I would choose to expand and improve the network. Free public transport for those of us already living directly on the public transport network is lovely, but it means that the rest of the community is essentially subsiding my transport access. Thank you, that's very kind of you, but I'd rather focus on getting more people onto the system than making my own life a bit cheaper.
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Comment on Why free buses in NYC could backfire horribly in ~transport
Johz Link ParentI'm not suggesting that free necessarily means bad, I'm more thinking about what the priority should be given a non-infinite budget. Is it more important that the people who are currently able to...- Exemplary
I'm not suggesting that free necessarily means bad, I'm more thinking about what the priority should be given a non-infinite budget. Is it more important that the people who are currently able to use public transport get it for free or is it more important that public transport is more widely used but people need to pay for it? (FWIW, I'm assuming here that people who need free public transport like low-income families will get that in either case.)
For me, the latter should be the priority. Public transport is more useful the more it is used, especially if, as you say, it currently sucks and needs to be improved. And, at least according to the evidence presented here, making public transport free does not mean that more people use it. But other measures clearly can improve usage numbers, and I suspect the best way to make more people use public transport is to make it more effective. Cleaner, more modern vehicles; more expansive routes that make it easy to access the network; regular night routes, etc - the are the things that will help convince people about the value of public transport. (In fairness, I have no idea the extent to which NYC has these things already, but these are the sorts of areas I would focus on if I had control over the transport budget for a city.)
I am someone sympathetic to the idea that public services should generally be free, but I don't think that should be an absolute rule, and more importantly, if there are better ways to use resources, I think it makes sense to spend more money on those things. In the case of public transport, making it efficient and effective seems like a greater priority in general than making it, in Bevan's words, "free at the point of use".
I'm in Germany, too. I live in Aachen. I'm not a native, and I only have a few years here, but my experience is that local public transit here is decent (The Netherlands was much better), but any kind of longer-distance commute is simply horrible.
The local transport varies a lot city-to-city. I live in Dresden, and it's really impressive (despite a bridge falling over and everyone deciding there's no more room in the budget for anything, including public transport). But there are also some real lows. And nationally, DB is a disaster, particularly on your side of the country where I feel like half of the trains I get end up cancelled. But I think that also echoes my point: you can reduce DB tickets as much as you like, but as long as the infrastructure is lacking or broken, people are generally going to opt for the more reliable means of transport.
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Comment on Why free buses in NYC could backfire horribly in ~transport
Johz Link ParentCar ownership is inelastic, but car use can be. I live in a city in Germany with great public transport, and even here there's a high proportion of car ownership. But a lot of those car owners...As to the "no increase in use" ... Car ownership is extremely inelastic. You're not going to sell your car because suddenly the bus is free. But over time, as the "only poor people use it" stigma fades, maybe you (or your kid) try it, and maybe you think about not buying a new car when it's time.
Car ownership is inelastic, but car use can be. I live in a city in Germany with great public transport, and even here there's a high proportion of car ownership. But a lot of those car owners will still commute or get around via public transport or bike or walking or whatever, because it's just so much easier. Car owners will choose other means of transport if those other means work out better for them.
Which implies that public transport being free isn't so much of a significant benefit. My hunch is that the more useful solution is to concentrate on making public transport more broadly useful — making it more convenient and easy for a wider range of people, rather than making it cheaper for the people who are already using it. So expanding routes, making it easy to use connected services, etc. For example here, all the city's public transport networks are connected into the same system, so I can buy a single ticket and use everything: trams, buses, trains, ferries, even the local funicular railway (IIRC). That means that it's very easy to cross the entire city and get to exactly where you need to go without having to figure out all the right changes.
I could believe (but have no evidence to suggest!) that this sort of connected, expanded, convenient network is a more useful use of resources than making public transport free, at least where the aim is getting as many people to use public transport as possible.
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Comment on Transit passes are better but free fares are good too in ~transport
Johz Link ParentI don't know, at a certain point you've just got to bite the bullet and force change to happen. You need people to take to bus who are not currently taking the bus, otherwise change will never...I don't know, at a certain point you've just got to bite the bullet and force change to happen. You need people to take to bus who are not currently taking the bus, otherwise change will never happen. Targeting families, or perhaps young adults with limited income, or the elderly, with deals and free rides helps bring more people onto buses in the first place.
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Comment on Transit passes are better but free fares are good too in ~transport
Johz Link ParentThe big benefit of family-friendly public transport is that kids can be more independent. Here in Germany, it's very common to see children taking buses and trams by themselves to get to school or...The big benefit of family-friendly public transport is that kids can be more independent. Here in Germany, it's very common to see children taking buses and trams by themselves to get to school or to visit friends. By setting up public transport such that it's easy for the whole family to ride together, you normalise public transport for children and in turn make it easier for those children to start riding by themselves.
I'd argue families on public transport are a great litmus test for whether the public transport really is broadly usable as a general transport system, or whether you've just built an overly complicated car-pooling system for commuters.
Fuzzing is about putting a big variety of different inputs into a system and identifying the inputs that produce weird or unexpected outputs. In theory, it's really good at finding bugs of the "wall jumping" kind, where one particular unexpected input at the wrong moment produces bad results.
The difficulty is figuring out how to hook up the output of the fuzzer (basically a stream of random bytes) to the inputs of the system you're trying to test. Fuzzers mostly work best when the subject under test has a clear, reproducible "input -> output" structure, whereas games have a more complex "input + state + time -> output". But for complex software like compilers or databases, fuzzers are great at finding the sorts of bugs that a QA team might occasionally stumble onto.