System76 on Age Verification Laws (blog.system76.com)

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[-] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 28 points 2 days ago

This is a really good read, and I highly recommend it.

In practice, this means anyone under 18 isn’t supposed to create a computer account on their own.

Most System76 employees installed operating systems and created accounts on their computer when they were under 18. They did this out of curiosity. Many started writing software.

I started programming in BASIC on a C64 when I was six, moved on to MOS 6502 assembly when I was seven, then onward through ANSI C, C++, and numerous other languages over the years. If, back then, my introduction to "computing" had been to simply consume the software of others on a locked down smartphone that I could neither truly control nor understand, well... I would have ended up somewhere very different, and not, I think, better.

And it's worrying me. Knowing at least something about the inner workings of the machines and software upon which so much of our lives now depend is more then merely empowering - it's liberating. Now it seems like we're all going to be mindless consumers of vibe-coded software on platforms we can only use but aren't allowed to learn how to control. That future disgusts me. It's not just personally repulsive, it's incredibly dangerous.

Because the logical opposite of liberation... is slavery.

[+] outofthisworld@lemmy.org -27 points 2 days ago

You sound like a fool still using “vibe coding”

Maybe give it another shot. It’s better now. Or, yell at more clouds.

[-] 18107@aussie.zone 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I tried it recently, it still doesn't work.

You will get more logic errors than you could possibly imagine. Even when you've fixed the obvious errors and it seems to run, you still have an enormous number of edge cases not handled that make your project a buggy, insecure mess.

It's the Dunning–Kruger effect again. If you can't do it yourself, you don't notice that AI can't do it either.

[-] outofthisworld@lemmy.org -3 points 2 days ago

I can do it myself, and so I know how to tell it to do it for me. I know to set up tests to prove it all works like it should, and if the AI breaks something it will be apparent. This isn’t rocket science.

People just don’t know how to work with AI. Mostly because they “tried it recently” and failed miserably because the user didn’t bother putting in the effort. The AI is only as good as the prompts it gets from the human.

Once you understand it’s there to assist you and not do your entire job, you’ll get good at it. But getting good takes time. The first big project I made with AI doing most of the code was a big sloppy mess. That’s because I did it wrong, not the AI.

To effectively use AI, you have to be a good project manager AND a good developer. Those two skills are learned—with practice.

[-] 18107@aussie.zone 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

if the AI breaks something it will be apparent.

No, it isn't usually apparent. Most bugs from AI are subtle edge cases that will only show up later. One of those "later" instances night be when you try to run it on a different computer, or when another user presses buttons in an order you didn't try, or when you try to add a new feature, or worse, when someone tries to hack your code and finds all the common security vulnerabilities because that's what the AI has seen most often and copied.

AI can't think – it can only give results it has seen before or some combination of them. We already know AI can't produce an image of a full glass of wine, or tell you what year is next year on Jan 1st.

The technology can't work. No matter the input prompt, it just isn't capable of producing code with no bugs or edge cases. That requires thinking and logical deductions, both disproven by the examples in the previous paragraph.

[-] outofthisworld@lemmy.org 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

My personal experience disagrees with you. I do not have the problems you seem to have or think exist. PEBCAK.

Edit: full image

[-] chillpanzee@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 days ago

Solid message.

this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026

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