I think one look at the flood of vibe-coded projects (like decomps, mods, etc) hitting the retrogaming scene now proves this article wrong already. You literally see a major project blow up in one day, then immediately get 'busted' for AI.
And it's almost certainly hitting other fields too. Games on Steam, mobile apps, websites and web apps, etc.
Yeah, people on HN don't do anything for the pleasure of anything but to be productive and provide value to whoever. So, don't bet on people here understanding this mindset.
There's a lot of hatred for AI in these communities, to the point half of Twitter/Bluesky/Reddit goes ballistic when they learn the developer used Claude or Codex at some point. Media outlets and influencers are doing the same thing too.
Yes I’ve seen this. The hatred is easily as unhinged as some of the stuff from the “AI will soon learn to fold space and access infinite energy from the zero point after it recursively becomes god” delusional AI utopia crowd, or the “nuke data centers” crowd.
AI seems to break a lot of peoples’ brains. It’s like it totally bypasses nuanced thinking and understanding and normal curiosity and goes straight to some kind of overflow state.
The hatred stems from retrocomputing enthusiasts wanting an escape from modern computing. When someone's having fun with their retrocomputing hobby, they don't want what they see as the worst part of modern computing playing any role in that hobby. They're trying to get away from the hype, but it's inescapable.
Oh yes, first thing that sprung to mind when I started to see games being made with Ai on itch and then steam and of course the posts showing up daily on certain subreddits.
A lot of friends who were not computer illiterate but also definitely not coders are now publishing websites regularly with whatever comes to their mind at the time.
Quality could be questionable but quantity-wise I can definitely see the start of the exponential growth.
Yeah, I think the ideal AI user for coding is the one who is not so ignorant that they can't even explain what they want done, but not so knowledgeable that they could simply do it themselves. It's like a crutch: if you don't have legs it's completely useless, but it can let you hobble around if yours don't work perfectly, and if they do work then it's also pretty much useless.
Most everything took a hit. Roughly half of the front-page content throughout the day is AI press releases, AI product marketing, vibecoded projects, and essays about AI. I'm not saying it's good or bad, but there's not much room left for anything else.
I don't even feel the effect as much because my brain filters these posts out nowadays, like ads. I have essentially zero interest in clicking on Show HN posts anymore.
I feel like there was an attached covenant with the "Show HN" concept that implied someone had likely put some level of painstaking craft and creativity into whatever their project was. It felt like a reasonable bargain to give your own time to looking at the post and seeing what they had spent time and effort in creating.
I'm struggling to see what the point is to looking at Show HN projects these days. It's like inviting your family in to see your latest bowel movement before the toilet gets flushed.
I spent 20 years trying to resist the rise of Trump. The moment the U.S. turned its back on the Geneva Conventions, which were specifically designed to stop the atrocities of fascism - it was extremely obvious what was happening.
I screamed in people's faces - alienated half my relationships. And absolutely nothing I did had any impact whatsoever. And so I learned to accept the things which I cannot change.
You need to know - the hype isn't fake, my friend. Those stories are real. If you genuinely want to resist, you need to shed your bad information. Good luck.
¹ https://mikelovesrobots.substack.com/p/wheres-the-shovelware...
And it's almost certainly hitting other fields too. Games on Steam, mobile apps, websites and web apps, etc.
AI seems to break a lot of peoples’ brains. It’s like it totally bypasses nuanced thinking and understanding and normal curiosity and goes straight to some kind of overflow state.
Quality could be questionable but quantity-wise I can definitely see the start of the exponential growth.
There was one she liked but she wanted to change the rules.
Of course it took Claude Code about 10 minutes to do it, and she was delighted.
No you can't
I'm struggling to see what the point is to looking at Show HN projects these days. It's like inviting your family in to see your latest bowel movement before the toilet gets flushed.
It was pretty cool. Nothing at all like a bowel movement.
But yeah. I'm trying to focus on the positive aspects. Because what else can you do?
You can resist.
Upvote quirky projects, call out fake hype, make your disapproval visible, call AI slop what it is.
The term AI has become a liability in some circles, so let that be proof that you don't have to just accept whatever AI companies tell us.
I screamed in people's faces - alienated half my relationships. And absolutely nothing I did had any impact whatsoever. And so I learned to accept the things which I cannot change.
You need to know - the hype isn't fake, my friend. Those stories are real. If you genuinely want to resist, you need to shed your bad information. Good luck.
Simultaneously I am terrified of what others will be able to do.
I’ll take it.