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Michael Bench-Cauldron

@mikebenchcapon.bsky.social

2.6K followers 830 following 6K posts

I have a PhD in philosophy and now I work in a library. He/him. michaelbenchcapon.blogspot.com

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · Nov 1

If your post is liked by just one wise person it is as though it had been liked by the whole world

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 24m

I once plugged my toaster into a fast-charging EV outlet and the toast came out with Elon Musk's face burned into it

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1h

Started watching Twisted Metal. I like it! Anthony Mackie is doing his best Will Smith impression, but not in a bad way

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 2h

I guess that's what James Cameron's doing

Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 4h

If you have an inkling you might win a Nobel prize, do you feel some urge to ensure you’re in a really noteworthy inaccessible place when it’s announced so you’ve got a good story about getting the news. ‘So, it was as our submersible rose from the Mariana Trench when my phone started pinging…’

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Greg Restall @consequently.hcommons.social.ap.brid.gy · 5h

Pablo Rivas-Robledo, a PhD student in Amsterdam, interviewed me for his video podcast, Ping Pong Philosophy. The first series has launched today, and my interview is the first up. For a quick 12 minute back and forth about philosophy, logic, and academia, check it out here… […]

Original post on hcommons.social

hcommons.social

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Curb Your Malthusiasm 2.0 @manucleardevice.bsky.social · 22h

"This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gondor," i holler as i overturn my uncle's funeral pyre and turn the 4th Age of Man into the 4th Age of Shit

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 12h

yo they hired Mamdani video guys. someone's doing some thinking somewhere

Chuck Schumer @schumer.senate.gov · 14h

The government is shut down because Trump and the Republicans are hellbent on taking health care away from you.

And they won’t even come to the table to talk to us about it.

This is not about politics. It's about people.

Let’s break it down:

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Linotype Pilgrim @symbo1ics.bsky.social · 28d

TFW EVEN LINKEDIN has spotted the very, very obvious and long predicted crisis:

screenshot of post on LinkedIn by Carlos Arguelles

Senior Principal Engineer at Amazon, ex-Google, ex-MicrosoftSenior Principal Engineer at Amazon, ex-Google, ex-Microsoft
6d • Edited • 6 days ago • Edited • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn

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One weird challenge that we’re facing with GenAI is how it may disrupt the 𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭.

Under “normal” circumstances, you have a large number of college grads that start as SDE-I. Over the course of their next 2-5 years, most of them will grow and be promoted to SDE-II. Over the course of their next 3-10 years, a lot of them will continue growing and become Senior Engineers. This is a natural funnel.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. When I started as an SDE-I, there were a lot of things I didn’t know; things college never prepared me for. I had a solid base of CompSci, so I could write code just fine. But I learned a lot of lessons by making mistakes, seeing the consequences of some of my poor choices, and modifying behavior as I learned more. There’s things you learn by doing, not by taking a class. You can't become a Principal Engineer by reading a book.

Problem now is: because of the higher judgement needed to assess LLM-generated code, a lot of companies are focusing on hiring more senior engineers over more junior engineers.

This 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 disrupt the funnel.

Eventually those Senior Engineers will grow to PEs, change roles, or retire, and if we didn’t have a solid base of SDE-IIs we were growing, the pipeline will dry. And without a solid supply of SDE-Is, we can’t get that.

I’ve actually seen this play out within my role (SDET). With companies hiring less and less SDETs in the last decade, SDETs were stretched thin and had to evolve and think bigger and impact more broadly. …

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/carlos-arguelles-6352392_one-weird-challenge-that-were-facing-with-activity-7369028706872279040-b1QA

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 7h

Seems like a pretty terrible idea to me

Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Luke Steuber @lukesteuber.com · 17h

Why are we still paying Jared Leto to do things, I thought we learned our lesson about that

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 23h

Atoms and void

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Phil Kapitan - Marx Appreciator 🏴🍉 @phil-kapitan.bsky.social · 23h

Been reading G.A. Cohen of late and ya know what…I kind of dig it 💁‍♂️

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe people making these posts aren't really interested in impostor syndrome at all and are just using what has become a standard pattern to say that someone sucks

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

I suppose I don't really think that people should stop worrying about being caught just because sometimes incompetents are installed in fancy jobs for reasons other than their competence; being better at your job than Bari Weiss will not save you

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

And that's not a sensible point which just needs a new term to express it, because if the standard is set at the worst practitioner then there couldn't be any impostors

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

I had been reading these posts as saying "look how low the standard is; of course you are meeting it"

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

Ah OK I hadn't really considered the getting caught aspect

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

I agree that seeing examples of successful impostors shouldn't relieve what I think of as impostor syndrome but I'm not sure people aren't just wrong about that rather than using the term to refer to something else

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

Tbh the texture was still pretty underwhelming until I put the cheese in but I don't want to mess with success

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

Finally caved to the fad and put some pasta water in the sauce; it was actually pretty good

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Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

It's one of the default search options on Chrome too; that's how I found it

Michael Bench-Cauldron @mikebenchcapon.bsky.social · 1d

I switched back from DuckDuckGo to Ecosia a few days ago; I like it better

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 1d

After stretching a bit last year, this year the Nobel committee was determined to give the prize to the physicsiest physics that ever physicsed.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 1d

Breaking News: The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for their work in quantum mechanics.

Nobel Prize in Physics Is Awarded for Work in Quantum Physics

The prize was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis.

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Dan de Kadt @dandekadt.bsky.social · 1d

Nobel season is upon us so I am staying close to my phone so I can post without delay

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Reposted by Michael Bench-Cauldron

Andrew Male @andrewmale.bsky.social · 2d

Johnny does not lie. It is magnificent. Do not watch if you have any fear of water whatsoever.

HALLOWEIRD @johnnymains.co.uk · 2d

Genuinely the greatest documentary the BBC have ever made - THE LAST LIGHTHOUSE - am utterly thrilled it's now on youtube. youtu.be/bc9qxyf_suI?...

1973: Life on the LAST LIGHTHOUSE | Tuesday Documentary | World of Work | BBC Archive

YouTube video by BBC Archive

youtu.be

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