> 2. I wouldn't be surprised at some unexpectedly large amount of AstroTurfing, especially considering the sheer amount money is flowing into the AI space.

Given the soul-crushingly large amounts of money sloshing around in this tiny slice of the industry, the amount of astroturfing, positive-sentiment manufacturing, & etc. is right about where I expect it to be... as is the amount of vehement denial that it exists. ;)

> I wouldn't be surprised at some unexpectedly large amount of AstroTurfing, especially considering the sheer amount money is flowing into the AI space.

Including money from Y Combinator itself (which, may we never forget, was once helmed by Sam Altman).

If you're looking for unbiased tech news and genuine user sentiment, you probably shouldn't be getting it from one of Silicon Valley's favorite VC firms.

> 1. The people on HN tend to think they're very clever, but they're often not as clever as they think they are. That has a lot of wide-ranging implications, from classic "engineer's disease" thinking to stuff a lot dumber.

I don't think suggesting that people are stupid is a very good argument. I think part of the reason people are for it is post like yours which are rude and not in good faith.

I'd imagine why as many people are for it on HN is for many people, it just works. Now imagine this snark about not being as clever as you think you are just because you enjoy using a tool. What's that going to do? Cause you to dig your feet in because you're being told the real reason you like these tools is because you're not very clever or you take things as a personal criticism. Yes, being told you think you are clever but you aren't really is personal.

I don't think you're posting in good faith. I certainly don't think you're going to get the real reasons people support this stuff when you act like they're stupid or suggest a lot of this is being turfed. People are using these tools because they work.

Your post says more about you than it does supporters.

> 1. The people on HN tend to think they're very clever, but they're often not as clever as they think they are. That has a lot of wide-ranging implications, from classic "engineer's disease" thinking to stuff a lot dumber.

Related: the Rationalists display this very well (though it's certainly not unique to them). The jump from "I think my beliefs through carefully, therefore I am reasonably rational" (likely already false, or at best true in a limited domain) to "I am rational, therefore my beliefs are well-thought through" is actually very small in the human mind, despite the latter being the opposite of rationality.

Also, the existence of Gell-Mann amnesia should be taught to everyone!

> 3. I think there's a certain amount of defensiveness from AI enthusiasts.

I've encountered this as well. I think this is also a huge part of why you see so many people loudly exclaiming "every programmer uses LLMs now" despite that not being even close to true. If you criticize LLMs, it (socially, to them) counts as criticism of their users as well. As well, bosses are probably the most excited about LLMs because they hope to fire us all soon, so it can be pointlessly self-destructive to speak negatively about LLMs in a professional context right now.

That, plus AI boosters tend to be incredibly annoying about it, bringing it up at every possible opportunity, changing every technical discussion to be about them, suggesting them for the stupidest use-cases, loudly proclaiming nonsensical productivity boosts (perhaps you feel 5x as productive because you're forcing other people to spend their time fixing your shitty slop code?) etc. So as someone who does not use LLMs I avoid talking to them.