Wow, I had been running out of patience with Yegge’s uncritical #GenAI boosterism, but this is epic: “The AI Vampire.”
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@timbray "It would seem that we are addicted to a new drug, and we don’t understand all of its effects yet." Well not all of us, Steve. Some of us immediately recognized the addictive potential and tried to warn you off. Also the 10x effect is not real; that's just your addiction talking to you in your own voice.
@timbray And like a good addict, all of the blame lies with someone else, and all of the solutions involve him continuing to use the thing he's addicted to. Oh but he'll be "dialing back" i.e. learning to use successfully. If you know the first thing about addiction, the entire discourse is really quite exhausting.
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Wow, I had been running out of patience with Yegge’s uncritical #GenAI boosterism, but this is epic: “The AI Vampire.”
As usual with Yegge, it could have been edited down to half its size, but go read it anyhow. I’m going to adopt that “AI Vampire” phrase and start using it, a lot.
@timbray pairs interestingly with Anil Dash’s recent piece about AI as the new compiler… except this machine is stacks of slot machines and evaluators. It’s good to see some thought to what effect that has on people. Late, but good.
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@timbray When I first started using AI coding tools I also got too immersed in it, like Steve mentions, but I backed off and did things like alternating code sessions with tidy sessions and only working a few hours each morning. The “other time” is needed to play with new tools and new versions of tools, as we all try and keep up with the pace of development.
@timbray I have been too busy fixing up an old house for the last month to do any coding. Cosplaying network engineer, electrician, archaeologist etc.
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Wow, I had been running out of patience with Yegge’s uncritical #GenAI boosterism, but this is epic: “The AI Vampire.”
As usual with Yegge, it could have been edited down to half its size, but go read it anyhow. I’m going to adopt that “AI Vampire” phrase and start using it, a lot.
@timbray Respectfully, that is garbage. Just utter, steaming garbage. Steve Yegge has completely lost all credibility. "don’t take it from me. Take it from… the Copilot people." Ah yes, the Copilot people. Their products are truly having their moment in the sun right now. Windows, Github, that stuff has truly never been more popular, stable or perfected than they are right now. Surely no one could find a more pleased customer than a Microsoft customer at this moment in time. There is absolutely an AI Vampire in the room right now, and it is wearing Steve Yegges face.
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Wow, I had been running out of patience with Yegge’s uncritical #GenAI boosterism, but this is epic: “The AI Vampire.”
As usual with Yegge, it could have been edited down to half its size, but go read it anyhow. I’m going to adopt that “AI Vampire” phrase and start using it, a lot.
@timbray This started pretty badly with the awful art and the usual "believe me bro, this version of the model is the real 10x deal" spiel, but okay, par for the course. He really lost me at the "…with everyone slacking off, a competitor will take them out pretty fast.", which is basically the "nine women carrying a baby to term in one month" meme.
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Wow, I had been running out of patience with Yegge’s uncritical #GenAI boosterism, but this is epic: “The AI Vampire.”
As usual with Yegge, it could have been edited down to half its size, but go read it anyhow. I’m going to adopt that “AI Vampire” phrase and start using it, a lot.
@timbray well, it's Marx. He hasn't quite gotten there, and there are a lot of words, but it's in there.
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@timbray well, it's Marx. He hasn't quite gotten there, and there are a lot of words, but it's in there.
@timbray my take is right there on the IETF list. Unreliable Narrator and Contempt For The Reader. https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf/s7WWTHudKlKgXSgS8p82yEOYTcI/
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Wow, I had been running out of patience with Yegge’s uncritical #GenAI boosterism, but this is epic: “The AI Vampire.”
As usual with Yegge, it could have been edited down to half its size, but go read it anyhow. I’m going to adopt that “AI Vampire” phrase and start using it, a lot.
@timbray I have long wondered where Steve Yegge gets his energy for all these words until I realized he may be the first wind-powered human.
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@timbray I can't read Yegge but I had Gemini read it for me.
Steve Yegge argues that while advanced AI tools like Claude Code provide a massive productivity boost, they act as "energy vampires" that cause rapid developer burnout through extreme mental exhaustion.
@nelson Accurate as far as it goes, but misses the crucial class-struggle angle.
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@timbray I have long wondered where Steve Yegge gets his energy for all these words until I realized he may be the first wind-powered human.
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@timbray Respectfully, that is garbage. Just utter, steaming garbage. Steve Yegge has completely lost all credibility. "don’t take it from me. Take it from… the Copilot people." Ah yes, the Copilot people. Their products are truly having their moment in the sun right now. Windows, Github, that stuff has truly never been more popular, stable or perfected than they are right now. Surely no one could find a more pleased customer than a Microsoft customer at this moment in time. There is absolutely an AI Vampire in the room right now, and it is wearing Steve Yegges face.
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Wow, I had been running out of patience with Yegge’s uncritical #GenAI boosterism, but this is epic: “The AI Vampire.”
As usual with Yegge, it could have been edited down to half its size, but go read it anyhow. I’m going to adopt that “AI Vampire” phrase and start using it, a lot.
@timbray Watching someone come to terms with the brutal fundamentals of capitalism almost in real time is fascinating.
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Wow, I had been running out of patience with Yegge’s uncritical #GenAI boosterism, but this is epic: “The AI Vampire.”
As usual with Yegge, it could have been edited down to half its size, but go read it anyhow. I’m going to adopt that “AI Vampire” phrase and start using it, a lot.
@timbray it will be fun if AI was the thing that makes devs finally unionize

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@timbray I have long wondered where Steve Yegge gets his energy for all these words until I realized he may be the first wind-powered human.
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Wow, I had been running out of patience with Yegge’s uncritical #GenAI boosterism, but this is epic: “The AI Vampire.”
As usual with Yegge, it could have been edited down to half its size, but go read it anyhow. I’m going to adopt that “AI Vampire” phrase and start using it, a lot.
@timbray funny, when I read that I thought “wow this is short for a Yegge post.”
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@timbray Respectfully, that is garbage. Just utter, steaming garbage. Steve Yegge has completely lost all credibility. "don’t take it from me. Take it from… the Copilot people." Ah yes, the Copilot people. Their products are truly having their moment in the sun right now. Windows, Github, that stuff has truly never been more popular, stable or perfected than they are right now. Surely no one could find a more pleased customer than a Microsoft customer at this moment in time. There is absolutely an AI Vampire in the room right now, and it is wearing Steve Yegges face.
@timbray I don’t know if you were referring to my reply in your follow-up, Tim. I did read the whole thing. I disagree with Steve Yegge on a fundamental point. AI is not making him or anyone else 10x more productive, for any meaningful measure of productivity. It is rotting his brain, and it is clear from the way he writes and expresses himself that he is drunk, addicted and manic. He agrees. But he still thinks that he is doing great. ”I just need to cut the heroin with some speed!” No dude. You’re ruining yourself.
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@timbray Watching someone come to terms with the brutal fundamentals of capitalism almost in real time is fascinating.
@timbray It reminds me of Cory Doctorow's quoting someone who says corporations are just slow-motion artificial intelligences that no one can control (what controls we have are collective in nature).
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@nelson Accurate as far as it goes, but misses the crucial class-struggle angle.
@timbray@cosocial.camisses the crucial class-struggle angle.
Well, it's #Google's #Gemini: it gaslights class-struggle by design!
#BigTech's #LLM are political tools.
They "read" for you, just what you are supposeed to read.
@nelson@tech.lgbt