I have a saying/hypothesis that a human trying to write code is like someone without a visual cortex trying to paint a picture—we can do it eventually, but we have to go pixel by pixel because we lack a sensory modality for that medium; it’s not our native environment.
Eliezer, this sounds wrong to me. Acquired skills matter more than having a sensory modality. Computers are quite good at painting, e.g. see the game Crysis. Painting with a brush isn’t much easier than pixel by pixel, and it’s not a natural skill. Neither is the artist’s eye for colour and shape, or the analytical ear for music (do you know the harmonies of your favourite tunes?) You can instantly like or dislike a computer program, same as a painting or a piece of music: the inscrutable inner workings get revealed in the interface.
I have a saying/hypothesis that a human trying to write code is like someone without a visual cortex trying to paint a picture—we can do it eventually, but we have to go pixel by pixel because we lack a sensory modality for that medium; it’s not our native environment.
Eliezer, this sounds wrong to me. Acquired skills matter more than having a sensory modality. Computers are quite good at painting, e.g. see the game Crysis. Painting with a brush isn’t much easier than pixel by pixel, and it’s not a natural skill. Neither is the artist’s eye for colour and shape, or the analytical ear for music (do you know the harmonies of your favourite tunes?) You can instantly like or dislike a computer program, same as a painting or a piece of music: the inscrutable inner workings get revealed in the interface.