I have used LLMs a couple of times to get started on something. I don’t have ADHD, so this is not a regular occurrence for me. But when I have tried this, I have always found the LLM solution so horrible that it instantly inspired me to do it myself. So, in that sense it worked, I got unstuck, but no LLM garbage makes it into the project.

It's nice to know I'm not alone in this. I have definitely used slop as inspiration by negative example.

Even pre-AI, when working with slop generated by other humans, starting with something was often better than staring at a blank screen.

That’s how I use it for writing. I am looking for alternate wording/phrases that I usually don’t use (language habits), alternate takes of any quality just to get myself thinking along different lines, etc.

Rarely do I use what the tool actually spits out. I just use it as a sounding board, like I’m chatting with a (very noob) writer. It doesn’t make me much faster but it helps me break through when I just can’t get words down.

This is kind of how I feel I think. Putting pen to paper for me is hard.

This framing of it being a tool that you find indispensable as an individual is important. I’m not interested in debating static vs dynamic types, or vim vs emacs, etc. If it works for you, then that’s great!

But the difference with LLMs currently - I guess? - is that non-engineers are pushing the idea that it’s universally indispensable at scale. I think it leads to a lot of emotion bleeding into the debate.

This is me in the evening working on a side project.

That’s me too! I still have not figured out how to also make it enjoyable.

But what if the only real way to break through avoidance patterns is to stop avoiding? What if the tradeoffs of LLMs are instant gratification and further atrophying of your executive functions?

I have gained a paranoid suspicion that our capacity to decrease immediate distress with technology has become so great that we are creating a world where people with certain temperaments can have their personalities become more and more extreme through the assistance of technologies which, for example, decrease the amount of interpersonal interaction required or prevent the need for deep focus.

I'd like to seem some reliable information on this, because it affects my parenting strategy, for one thing.