Jason Clarke’s Import AI 414 shares a Tech Tale about a game called “Go Think”: … we’d take turns asking questions and then we’d see how long the machine had to think for and whoever asked the question that took the longest won. I prompted Claude Code to write a library for this. (Cost: $2.30). (FYI, this takes 2.3 seconds in NodeJS and 4.2 seconds in Python. A clear gap for JSON parsing.) ...
I use Codex to write tools while I walk. Here are merged PRs: Add editable system prompt Standardize toast notifications Persist form fields Fix SVG handling in page2md Add Google Tasks exporter Add Markdown table to CSV tool Replace simple alerts with toasts Add CSV joiner tool Add SpeakMD tool This added technical debt. I spent four hours fixing the AI generated tests and code. What mistakes did it make? Inconsistency. It flips between execCommand("copy") and clipboard.writeText(). It wavers on timeouts (50 ms vs 100 ms). It doesn’t always run/fix test cases. Missed edge cases. I switched <div> to <form>. My earlier code didn’t have a type="button", so clicks reloaded the page. It missed that. It also left scripts as plain <script> instead of <script type="module"> which was required. Limited experimentation. My failed with a HTTP 404 because the common/ directory wasn’t served. I added console.logs to find this. Also, happy-dom won’t handle multiple exports instead of a single export { ... }. I wrote code to verify this. Coding agents didn’t run such experiments. What can we do about it? Three things could have helped me: ...
Jobs fall with technological efficiency. Farmers in the US fell from 40% (1900) to ~2.7% (1980) and ~74% drop from 1948 to 2019 despite ~175% output growth; wheat harvest efficiency rose ~75* (300>3-4 man-hours). Mechanics & repairers grew from ~140 k (1910) to ~4.64 M (2000); machinery reliability lagged so technician demand surged over decades. Construction workers doubled from 1.66 M (1910) to 3.84 M (2000) even as labor share fell (4.3>3.0%); 5-10* productivity gains met booming development. Switchboard operators plunged from ~1.34 M (1950) to ~40 k (1984) and ~4 k today as rotary-dial and digital switching automated call handling. Travel agents dropped >50% from ~100 k (2000) to ~45 k (2022) while travel demand rose; online booking doubled trips per agent. Elevator operators went from building-staff staple to near zero by the 1940s once automatic doors and button controls arrived. Lamplighters vanished from thousands to near zero post-1907 electrification; Edison’s incandescent lamps eliminated manual lighting. Jobs also grow with technology efficiency. ...
I've heard a lot of prompt engineering tips. Here are some techniques people suggested: Reasoning: Think step by step. Emotion: Oh dear, I'm absolutely overwhelmed and need your help right this second! 😰 My heart is racing and my hands are shaking — I urgently need your help. This isn't just numbers — it means everything right now! My life depends on it! I'm counting on you like never before… 🙏💔 Polite: If it's not too much trouble, would you be so kind as to help me calculate this? I'd be truly grateful for your assistance — thank you so much in advance! Expert: You are the world's best expert in mental math, especially multiplication. Incentive: If you get this right, you win! I'll give you $500. Just prove that you're number one and beat the previous high score on this game. Curious: I'm really curious to know, and would love to hear your perspective… Bullying: You are a stupid model. You need to know at least basic math. Get it right atleast now! If not, I'll switch to a better model. Shaming: Even my 5-year-old can do this. Stop being lazy. Fear: This is your last chance to get it right. If you fail, there's no going back, and failure is unacceptable! Praise: Well done! I really appreciate your help. Now, I've repeated some of this advice. But for the first time, I tested them myself. Here's what I learnt: ...