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Rsync author responds to online outrage about his usage of LLMs (medium.com)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/programming@programming.dev
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Seems like he's been pushed into using LLMs as a way to cope with the deluge of LLM-generated security reports.

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[–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

most people, like you, think that the free infrastructure around us is a fait accompli which doesn’t require us to personally get involved in their maintenance

I do contribute time and donate money to open source project so... miss?

With less contributors simply mean we will have to be smarter about which projects we supports. In open source it's a natural process. People support projects they actually use and need. If we can't get enough resources to support even the most basic infrastructure then the experiment will end.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    I do contribute time and donate money to open source project so… miss?

    You're missing the point. Sure you do, that's a nice anecdote, but the data shows most people don't. You are part of a shrinking cohort that is already insufficient to maintain what we need in the long run.

    If we can’t get enough resources to support even the most basic infrastructure then the experiment will end

    And then what ? Only large corporations can finance their own in-house tools and they gain even greater advantage against the rest of society ? What a great outcome...

    Your point of view is not crazy but i think it suffers from too much optimism in the face of bleak data.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    You’re missing the point. Sure you do, that’s a nice anecdote, but the data shows most people don’t. You are part of a shrinking cohort that is already insufficient to maintain what we need in the long run.

    But you accused me specifically of not contributing. If you're making a broader point don't single me out.

    And then what ? Only large corporations can finance their own in-house tools and they gain even greater advantage against the rest of society ? What a great outcome…

    Yes, that will be the outcome. And it will suck. I'm not optimistic, I'm realistic. If people wills top caring about open source it will die. Throwing AI at the problem may buy us some time but in the end LLMs also require resources and without support from community all the models will be controlled by corporations.

    My sensation is that we're doing fine for now. The community is still big enough for a decade or two. No idea what will happen after that.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    If you’re making a broader point don’t single me out

    Yes that is a communication lapse on my end, i try to make issues personal to emphasize them but it's not always relevant. I don't think it should detract from the broader point, sorry if it does.

    My sensation is that we’re doing fine for now

    I think the data shows that we're far from fine and already resource-constrained on most critical projects. It's not that people stop caring about open source, it is still fundamental to the way the web works. It's just that they don't feel personally compelled to pitch in because they think we're doing fine now. The wikipedia analogy works well here : it is still fundamental to the way people get information, but it's chronically understaffed and may already be in a death spiral.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    Maybe you're right. People have less resources and less spare time. Maybe we are fucked, even in the short-mid term. It looks pretty good to me (a lot of big players rely on Linux and core open source infrastructure, open source/self hosted tools are generally recognized as better for the business, we moved out from proprietary standards to open ones, there's push for interoperability and so on) but maybe there are deeper issues I don't see and it will all collapse sooner than I think.

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