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puppycodes • today at 8:17 PM • 2 replies • view on HN

Do you consider a camera an automation and not a tool? This type of romanticing of effort is a tired old debate that has not aged well...

Reminds me of Baudelaire:

"the photographic industry was the refuge of every would-be painter, every painter too ill-endowed or too lazy to complete his studies"


Replies

runarberg • today at 10:05 PM

Explained in TFA.

> A tool is something you wield.

> Control, sensory feedback, intention, intimacy, continuous direction, expertise etc are all missing from LLM use. LLMs are not wielded. LLMs are automation.

Cameras do indeed have sensory feedback, intention, intimacy, contentious direction, expertise, etc. So TFA would indeed describe a camera as a tool, not as automation.

Note also that TFA is not romanticizing effort, rather it is putting value to expertise:

> The continuous application of technique and energy, and sensory feedback, are essential to the buildup of expertise.

tines • today at 10:01 PM

Yeah I mean a camera pretty precisely fits his definition of a tool. Not sure what your point is here.