On the other hand, where I remain a skeptic is this constant banging-on that somehow this will translate into entirely new things - research, materials science, economies, inventions, etc - because that requires learning “in real time” from information sources you’re literally generating in that moment, not decades of Stack Overflow responses without context. That has been bandied about for years, with no evidence to show for it beyond specifically cherry-picked examples, often from highly-controlled environments.
I never doubted that, with competent engineers, these tools could be used to generate “new” code from past datasets. What I continue to doubt is the utility of these tools given their immense costs, both environmentally and socially.
Everyone wants to automate the (proverbial) plumbing, until shit spews everywhere and there’s nobody to blame but yourself.
But anybody can do plumbing. It’s not rocket science.
Regulations come about because of repeated failures that end up harming the public. Regulations aren’t a dirty word, and aren’t obstacles to be “disrupted” in most cases.
> plumbing unions have a financial interest in limiting the number of plumbers
Golly gee, it’s almost as if - because we live in a society where everyone must work in order to survive - that skilled professionals have a vested interest in ensuring only qualified candidates may join their ranks, to make it harder to depress wages below subsistence levels (the default behavior of unregulated capital).
> But anybody can do plumbing. It’s not rocket science.
Oh wow, I had no idea I was qualified to design sewage infrastructure for my township just because I plumbed my Amazon bidet into the cold water line! Sure glad there’s no regulations stopping me from becoming a licensed plumber since apparently that’s all it takes to succeed!
Sarcasm aside, your argument holds about as much substance as artificial sweetener: it sounds informed and wise, but anyone with substantial experience in reality and collaborating with other people knows that all you’re spewing is ignorance of the larger systems at work and their interplay.
Sometimes, but see also the concepts of “iron triangles” and “regulatory capture”.
Regulations aren’t a binary (exclusively good or exclusively bad), yet so many of the HN cohort have drank the “exclusively bad and everyone can be trusted to make good decisions forever” koolaid that seeks to dismantle regulations wholesale.
The question was why plumbers are expensive. I assert that it’s not because plumbing is especially difficult.
Smartest thing you’ve said all day. Thanks for reminding me that trying to convince someone of something when they cannot be bothered to do research beyond first order impacts is a waste of my time.