The pretty big difference is that I'm not easily able to produce my electricity or food. But I'm easily able to produce my code. We are losing autonomy we already have, just for pure laziness, and it will bite us.
Learning != autonomy. Increasing one's action-space increases autonomy. Learning is only indirectly related. Depending on private companies is limiting, but using LLMs isn't inherently tied to private companies.
>Reducing friction, increasing the scope of what is possible given a unit of effort, that is just increasing autonomy
I, with a car, can drive to other side of the US and back. I am able to travel to and from to places in a way my ancestors never could.
However, the price our society had to pay for this newfound autonomy was that we needed to sacrifice land for highways, move further away from our workplaces, deal with traffic, poison our breathing air with smog, decrease investments into public transportation, etc.
I think people are too gung-ho on new technologies in the tech space without considering the negatives--in part because software developers are egotistical and like to think they know what's best for society. But I wish for once they'd consider the sacrifices we'll have to make as a society by adopting the shiny new toy.
