logoalt Hacker News

ziddoap01/21/20251 replyview on HN

>How many of us still have to do these things?

Yep, we agree. That's the whole point of what I said in the first half of my original comment.

At one time, they were common skills. Things changed, they aren't common, they aren't really needed (for most people), and everyone is doing just fine without them. We've freed up time and mental capacity for other (hopefully more beneficial) tasks.

(I'm confused why this reply and the other above it are are just restating the first part of my original comment, but framing it like it's not a restatement).


Replies

skydhash01/22/2025

There are things that aren't needed because we have found easier ways to solve the problem they were solving. In contrast, there are things that exists that are only to make the job easier, no to make it go away. You don't need to light a fire because of how house are heated or food are made. But you still need to learn arithmetic to use a calculator. There's a difference between the two.

If the goal is to learn, the means don't matter much as long as the right attitude is there. But if one only wish to appear knowledgeable, LLM has indeed make it way easier.