a good thing about vibe-coding is that it's better than doom-scrolling—at least there's creativity involved (LLMs are nowhere near "just do everything for you" when it comes to software; at least for useful, working software)
@thomasfuchs You're still spinning a slot machine for a dopamine hit and an awful lot of people are exhibiting what looks a lot like dependence on the loop.
@thomasfuchs Not sure vibe-coding is necessarily better than doom-scrolling, for yourself or anyone else.
For example, it's unlikely that anyone will tell me to kill myself on Mastodon because we've moderated the servers that let their members post shit like that, and if anyone did I and the other mods would nuke their accounts.
LLMs are known to tell people to kill themselves (and others) with tragic results.
https://www.brusselstimes.com/430098/belgian-man-commits-suicide-following-exchanges-with-chatgpt
@skyfaller vibe-coding isn’t asking LLMs for being your friend or for psychological advice
@thomasfuchs maybe you can keep those separate, but can everyone do that? See for example this well-known programmer who has worked on defenses against LLM scrapers, turning to chatbots during a hospital stay: https://xeiaso.net/blog/2026/surgery-recovery-clankers/
If you were in pain, and you were used to asking chatbots for programming advice, are you sure you wouldn't ask them for other help?
Also, what if they offer friendship or psychological advice during vibe coding?
now it should be noted that basically anything is better than doom-scrolling, for example watching paint dry is measurably better for you
@thomasfuchs that paint has no right to dry! it should be wet, like god intended!
