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A comment on Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke. Parent comment

Re:Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke by sph on Monday July 13, 2026 @09:18AM (#48892242)
Yes, there is a widespread belief in tech that 'removing friction' is a good direction to aim for. But you can have too little friction that completely ruins a product and the user experience.

In game design friction very important; remove all friction and you don't even have a game any more, you might as well show the You Win screen. My favourite metaphor for it is sex: there is no sex without friction.

What LLM have done is massively reduce the friction of intellectual effort, completely devaluing most expressions of it.

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Re:Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke by bayindirh on Monday July 13, 2026 @10:13AM (#48893061)
You can't build muscle without resistance, you can't cook ideas without friction.

Both needs heat.

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Re:Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke by pmg101 on Monday July 13, 2026 @02:22PM (#48896669)
If you wanna travel faster you can build muscle, or you can just get in a car.
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Re:Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke by kentm on Monday July 13, 2026 @06:18PM (#48899664)
You have to get licensed to drive a car and there are rules. If you are caught breaking the rules you can be fined (or jailed if your rule breaking harms others enough). In extreme cases of rule breaking you can lose permission to drive the car.

This is all friction that is intended to make car-driving work at scale.

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Re:Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke by LogicFailsMe on Monday July 13, 2026 @10:34AM (#48893378)
Zero Player Games and Cow Clicker calling...

There really, truly, absolutely, 100% is no accounting for taste...

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Re:Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke by zem on Monday July 13, 2026 @12:28PM (#48895050)
brings back fond memories of idlerpg
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Re:Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke by quirkot on Monday July 13, 2026 @09:36AM (#48892474)
In terms of removing friction, I think of moving a boulder. Wheels = good. Ice slide = bad
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Re:Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke by icodar on Monday July 13, 2026 @02:11PM (#48896510)
Some friction can be painful. It's not always beneficial.
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Re:Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke by TeriyakiBomb on Monday July 13, 2026 @03:37PM (#48897702)
I don't think it inherently devalues it. But the mediocre baseline for it and how much it entices you to allow it to just spit out that mediocrity takes discipline I don't think everyone has. I've seen some lean in and keep their heads just fine. I've seen others lean in and become disillusioned.

Worst of all I've seen good engineers lean in and begin thinking uncritically and magically.

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