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In my completely uneducated-in-this-field view, "brain activity" can be broken down into two distinct types - the first type involves the raw procedural work required to solve a problem like 3012 x 42 in one's head, and the second involves higher level conceptual, critical and creative thinking required to say write a book or design a complex algorithm.

In the past, computers, calculators etc. have reduced the need for type 1 thinking, but I believe LLMs are increasingly replacing (or emulating / mimicking) type 2 thinking which - again entirely in my view - is more harmful to individuals and society as a whole.

| its exhausting to keep up with what I (as a dev) should be doing to stay sharp

That for me is the biggest thing I am feeling about LLMs at the moment, things are moving so quickly but to what end? I know this industry is constantly evolving and in some ways that is very exciting but I also feel like it is this exponential runaway that requires very deliberate attention focused on the bleeding edge to stay relevant, when a lot of my time in my day job doesn't facilitate this (which I have identified and have made the effort and will be changing company in a month).

My own two cents on LLMs (as a junior / low mid level early career software engineer) is that they work best as a better version of Google for any well explored issue, and being able to talk through problems in a conversational manner has been a game changer. But I do fear sometimes that I am not gaining the same amount of knowledge as I would before LLMs became mainstream, it's a shortcut that in the long run I fear is going to reduce the average problem solving ability and original / novel thinking ability of software engineers (whether that is even a requirement in most SWE jobs is up for debate).

I’ve now spent about half an hour watching videos about canned fish, must say it’s a fascinating topic

An "impossible" mode could remove the sound played when selecting a note. Only those with perfect pitch would be able to get it though (or someone using another piano / keyboard for reference).

As a slight aside, I have always wondered (and never really found a conclusive answer) whether it's possible to train your absolute pitch perception. I have perfect pitch so I can't really test myself fairly (although it does make this puzzle very easy for me!). I've read on multiple occasions that exposure / training as a child is the best way to get it for life, and being musical as a kid might explain my ability to detect absolute pitch.

There are third-party clients for the Play Store (Aurora store being a good example). Aurora store uses anonymous accounts to download the APKs directly from Google. That being said, just because you can install the application doesn't mean it will actually work without Play Services installed. I've had quite a bit of luck with random applications I've installed (interestingly most Google apps like Gboard, Photos and GCam work fine offline and without Play Services), however YMMV.

I've used LineageOS without Google services for about a year now. The only big missing feature I've found is notifications which in some ways is quite freeing and makes me check my phone a lot less.

LineageOS (and perhaps other ROMs) have the option to disable all networking features for apps, so I actually still use Google Camera, Google Photos (as an offline gallery) and Gboard (again all offline) and the majority of features just work. They don't complain about missing Google Services, nor about the missing internet connection.

There are great alternatives to apps like YouTube (NewPipe), Maps (OSMand), Chrome (Chromium, or I use a browser called Privacy Browser on F-droid) and I have tried apps like Spotify and they too work without Google services (although I guess some features might be lacking).

F-droid is an amazing service and has many FOSS alternatives to apps. I found myself today recompiling my browser application to fix some small bugs which just made me sit back in my chair and think "that is so cool"!

I think making the change can be gradual (for example switching to LineageOS for MicroG to get a subset of working Google services) before fully de-Googling, but the change is definitely possible (and easy) to make.

I use ungoogled chromium but I have a script that completely replaces my .config/chromium/ directory with a clean version saved with no cookies/history or anything else saved. that means I can basically roll back any stuff that I do. to update the config (eg for bookmark adding) I just replace the stored clean version with a new clean version created. I have my workflow integrated with starting on the internet with a "clean slate". yes things take a bit longer being signed out but using a password manager mitigates this somewhat. I have never had a problem with resetting my config and have been using the design for at least 2 years worth of chrome updates (with a few " resets" of my safe config)