I feel like I’ve found a fairly sweet spot with LLMs and coding. I use them almost entirely like a rubber ducky. Any small bits of code that they do generate I then diligently try to understand, see inefficiencies or issues and come up with a better solution.

This is a pretty slow process so they don’t speed me up at all. They just make the initial discovery may be a little bit easier? As Google has gotten worse and especially if I’m working in a code base with limited documentation or bad documentation, I found them to be useful to get my bearings. I always go into it with a paranoia that anything they generate could be a disaster so I have to do extra due diligence.

I’ve found that they’re pretty good at generating a couple lines of code, though I have to usually refine it a lot. Anything more than that seems to be more trouble than it’s worth.

However, I have found them to be a great tool for learning even if I’m not sure if what they’re putting out is correct. It will usually lead me to start thinking about things and looking deeper into documentation and research papers, etc.

That there are so many ways to store data on a browser (including exploits) and that they expose so much information about your physical device is a big part of the problem. Even barring that, there are additional ways they can fingerprint a user. While any one thing might not be telling, when you take all of them in combination, it gets frighteningly accurate how easy it is for them to know exactly who you are.

How much is your time worth to you? If you have a business that you feel provides a worthwhile product and the amount you charge for that product does not provide the lifestyle you desire, either improve the product, accept a lower standard of living, or quit/change the business.

If you feel you could charge more but it would be “unfair”, don’t worry, no one will buy it unless you are doing something unethical, like a dishonest mechanic or a doctor who lies to trick people into procedures they don’t need or you have a monopoly on an essential need.

If that doesn’t describe you, then charge a fair price for your cost and time. It seems like you don’t value your product or your time and you are looking for a way to trick yourself into be ok with that?

I remember when the term was first coined and it meant something like “asking an llm to code and NOT attempting to validate, fix or correct the outputs yourself. Just keep prompting in natural language until it works.” It was supposed to be a joke - this sort of use hits a wall pretty quickly and illustrates how limited llms can be.

The term has taken off and its meaning is now in flux. I did find it particularly amusing seeing all the LinkedIn lunatics start posting LLM written garbage about “integrating vibe coding Into your workflow” because they thought it was the new buzz word… and I guess they were right.

Compared to previous generations, most of the luxuries you are describing are a much lower percentage of our overall expenses, while 3 big things: housing, healthcare, and education have outpaced wages dramatically and are a MUCH larger percentage of our expenses compared to previous generations. Yes, you can save a lot of money by being thrifty, but home cost, healthcare, and education are hard if downright impossible for many people to mitigate.

All that being said yes, you could live a much simpler life, but I think the issue is people seeing an expected standing of living that many western countries used to have, slipping away while a very small percentage of people at the top are consolidating phenomenal wealth. So saying to them “hey it’s your fault for not lowering your expectations” comes off as well, ridiculous.