Comment by magicalhippo
5 days ago
> Everyday people can now do much more than they could, because they can build programs.
Indeed. Just spoke to a buddy, he's got some electronics knowledge, he's been code-curious but never gotten past very simple bash scripts and Excel sheets (vlookup etc to drive calculations).
He got himself a Claude subscription and has now implemented a non-trivial Arduino project, involving multiple CAN-bus modules and an interactive, dynamic web interface to control all this. The web interface detects the CAN-bus modules and populates the web interface based on that, and allows him to adjust the control logic.
It's a project he's had in his head for a few years and now was able to realize on his own (modulo Claude).
Exactly the kind of thing I've been seeing too. And often with people who know even less.
You spoke of an Arduino, and I have a friend with zero coding knowledge who built a fun project with an ESP32 and a tiny camera to detect when they are "not looking at the computer".
But, sure, people keep saying we're delusional when we say that this is where the world is headed: people building things, so often without even knowing they are doing anything "different" than what they were doing before, when they simply clicked buttons and "things just happened in the computer".
Not a musician so perhaps not accurate but I feel it's a bit like synths and DAWs. You might not be good at playing an instrument, something which requires a certain dexterity, finesse and lots of training. But with some virtual synths and a DAW you can make music that people enjoy.