If you aim to replace humans with AI, you're doing it wrong!
Are you betting on replacing your workers' brains (or your own) with AI? You're wrong! There's a better way to approach AI transformation. To explore the ideas behind this claim as it relates to software engineering, I highly recommend Steve Krouse's talk The Role of the Human Brain in Programming (link below). My key takeaway from his talk is that the proper way to think about the human brain in programming isn't that it's replaced by AI, but amplified by it.
Collaborative Theory Building and Feedback Loops
Steve's primary point is that the role of the human brain in programming is theory building, an idea inspired by Peter Naur's 1985 essay "Programming as Theory Building". He also takes inspiration from Bret Victor's idea - "Creators need an immediate connection to what they're creating."
Both of these ideas resonate deeply with how I've thought about programming for years. Notably, the hard part of programming isn't the syntax, language features, or learning APIs - It's the human communication that's required to build something useful. Or you could say, it's the challenge of communication in collaborative theory building.
I love Bret Victor's ideas - the primary importance of feedback loops has been paramount in how I approach creating software. I've always valued techniques and practices like Behavioral Driven Development with an automated test runner, and closing the loop by putting working software in business stakeholders' hands frequently.
Vibe Code
I think everyone is familiar with the notion of vibe coding. Most probably have strong opinions on the topic! Steve's breakdown of vibe coding is honest and reflective. He makes the following claim and backs it up with the best source document - the original tweet!
Vibe Code = Legacy Code
If you've spent any time dealing with legacy codebases, you know exactly how damning this statement is. Vibe coding has its place and offers fast feedback loops, but here's the trade-off: when you're completely disconnected from the code you're creating, that speed comes at the cost of durability and understanding.
I agree the future of programming is emphatically NOT vibe coding. Said another way:
Vibe code isn't going to eat the world!
This view aligns with my experience. Check out my previous post Is All AI Powered Software Development Vibe Coding? for more on this topic.
Other Key Insights
The talk goes deeper into what this amplification approach looks like in practice. Here are some other key points from Steve's talk that I found insightful, remixed in a format you might recognize:
Key Insights
Tools over Agents
Thinking over Delegating
Reading Code over Writing Code
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.
Steve emphasizes that scaling software creation in the age of AI will look fundamentally different than scaling software with humans. We can't imagine what it will look like until we get there. I love the example of Excel. Could pre-Excel accounting department managers have imagined what accounting would look like after Excel?
The Intelligence Divide
Here's what I think is really happening: we're witnessing the emergence of a new divide among humans as it relates to AI. This isn't simple rejection or acceptance. Rather it's a critical distinction within adopters that will shape the future of human capability.
Some will seek to turn their brains off and delegate. Whether it's college students cheating on essays or CEOs expecting AI to write all the code going forward, there will be a race to the bottom. We can already see it happening.
Others will continue to be engaged in their work. They will be hard working and active participants in what they create. They will layer AI onto and alongside their own efforts. They will amplify their output. They will accelerate their learning and intelligence.
A gap will emerge. The differences between these two groups will accelerate over time - one will out-compete the other across multiple dimensions of life and work. Which side of the intelligence divide will you be on?
If any of this connects with you, you should watch the talk for yourself. Hat tip to Alex for sharing it with me.
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