“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” ― George Carlin
I remember hearing this quote when I was first learning to drive.
It works well, because we can all relate to it. And it gives us an easy out to get
unstuck and realise that there is no objective truth. Everyone has their own speed
which they think is responsible and reasonable given the conditions.
Perhaps you are in an older car, carrying a reasonably heavy load, and it’s raining!
One would hope that you are driving a bit more slowly.
Perhapse you are a tradie driving a big ute.
Of course this most likely means you think a very high speed is the right one.
It’s a beautiful quote because it points out how naieve we can be without taking a step back.
The Speed of Code
Software has it’s own parallels here. In the past we may have pointed to the robustness of ones tests. Anyone testing anything less than we would have being the idiot - anyone testing anything more than we would have is a maniac!
Well now we have AI, LLMs, the genie who has come out and can grant our wishes in the most literal and obtuse ways possible.
Just like driving, we all have an intuitive sense of what a “responsible” speed looks like. And AI has completely changed the range of speeds available to us.
Just like driving, I suspect we’re not very good at judging that objectively.