This is why my anxiety is at levels unseen before. I am a programmer who’s on a working visa. Assuming it does take my job, I have no idea what to do next… other than panic.
I decided that being paralyzed with fear isn't a great strategy so I'm going to subscribe to OpenAI tools for a while and see how they can fit into my workflow.
It feels "wrong" on a strangely emotional level but what is happening is gonna happen anyway.
On a brighter note: There are bound to be a lot of unfounded, hype-based Marketing claims that look reasonable during the rush but fall flat over time. It would be a first for humanity if there weren't
That is certainly true about the hype-machine it is in full force. I imagine that will level off soon and the really useful and novel stuff will float to the top. I have no backup plan but as you said, what happens is going to happen? It's a rollercoaster for me personally where some days I am in absolute dread and fear about the future. Then other days I just go along my day as usual.
Panic seems like the wrong response. Figure out what you do that these things can’t. Use them to make yourself more productive.
In the late 90s I was told my job was going to be outsourced, then dotcom, then the GFC, and lots of smaller bumps along the way. Those were actually somewhat scary times. Now should be excitement about what’s possible.
While you are not wrong, the idea that gives me anxiety is that this replaces all programmers. My job theoretically is safe for now. I work on fairly novel stuff, while a lot of my day is json parsing there is a big chunk of it that is domain specific. That said... it's that one day it will just take over all of programming that has me in dread. The only option then in my somewhat middle age is to unironically "learn a trade" I guess?
I don't know if that helps, I thought it was an interesting take.
I believe we still have humanity, even if everyones job was replaced, I don't think we're going to just let each other starve, even if Microsoft have their own auto-coders, I think we'd all do our best to keep some type of economy going for as long as possible.
I don't think everyone in the world wants to be living in the gutter, nor do I think the majority of the people in the world want to be filthy rich either.
We'll likely have a lot of people working on open source initiatives to help democratize access to important technologies etc.
Who knows what the future will bring. Maybe a massive solar flare while wipe it all away next week anyway...no one knows.
