Read
I continue to enjoy Lopp’s recounting of his LLM explorations.
Rather than prototyping with code, I prototype in a spec. I explain to the robot what I want to build as a markdown file. This spec is the only thing we create. The process is no different than the first twenty prompts, except that the output is easy to read and easy to change markdown. The robots do a dutiful job of capturing my thoughts and their implications. No code. No APIs. Just writing.
Maybe unsurprisingly, LLMs do a much better job when you put boundaries around their tasks. Breaking the work down (just as you would for yourself—or anyone) gets much better results.
Interact
The LA region is huge and crisscrossed with endless highways. It’s easy to forget that it has a passable—maybe decent, even—commuter rail network that serves not only the valley, but dips well into SoCal. Also, hard to go wrong with trains and beer.
And if you’re new to The Militant Angeleno, you’re welcome. Enjoy exploring LA through their eyes.
Bonus: please ask Metrolink officials to actually commit to electrification. Their wait-and-see approach is absurd.
Read
But free time also means freedom from expectations. I asked AI what we do with time, and it came back with words that were commercial and violent. We spend time, save time, take time, and make it; manage, track, and save it; we kill time, we pass it, we waste it, borrow, and steal it. We abuse time and it beats us back up, either in retribution or self-defense. It’s a zero-sum perspective of the material of our lives; it makes us prisoners to our own utility.
“I asked AI what we do with time, and it came back with words that were commercial and violent.” It warms my heart to see new writing from Frank.