AI and Multitasking
I read Simon Willison's blog post, "sqlite-utils 4.0rc2, mostly written by Claude Fable (for about $149.25)" this morning and this line stuck out to me WAY more than its technical content:
I went out to enjoy the Half Moon Bay 4th of July parade, occasionally checking in and prompting the next step for Fable from my phone.
Going to a 4th of July parade, presumably with friends/family/other loved ones, and working on a personal project at the same time sounds miserable. Doing this kind of behavior, rapid context switching, at work is fine; you're meant to be (but aren't in reality) a raw productivity machine. Nothing you do is sentimental there. But something is lost when you do this to your loved ones. You aren't paying as much attention to them, or at the very least, they might perceive that to be true.
I don't know Simon, nor have I ever spoken to him, so I don't want this to sound like I'm accusing him of this. Maybe he really can context switch while still being engaged with those around him. Let's assume he can. Can everyone else do the same? Should they? I certainly can't. I would do a shitty job at both things, and then my wife would rightfully be upset with me.
I'm probably projecting onto Simon a bit, and that's unfair for me to do (again, since I don't know the guy). I just... Feel like we're losing something if this is the future.