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Deadcore's week note to you, number 1

Hey, it's Deadcore! Here's some bits and bobs from this past week, from me, to you.

Some things I learned about and did

Some reflections about the past week

In my last blog post I talked about not listening to music anymore, at least from my phone. I failed at that, already, today. I'm thinking a healthier view is to have something in moderation, so I don't feel deprived. Perhaps I won't listen to music ALL the time, while walking outside or driving for example. But I'll listen to music during a run.

I've also been thinking about social media usage. I lament that "I don't have time to do the things I want to do" but when I'm not being mindful about how I'm using my time I can easily lose 30 minutes on Instagram or Facebook. What mainly draws me to these platforms is I've had to rehome my dogs recently to a rescue, and I sometimes check the social media platforms for updates. From there, I get distracted... Sometimes I find things useful, most often times it's not really anything useful and it wastes my cognitive cycles.

It's also hard trying to balance socializing versus my studies, as I want to be able to look back at this period as a good one while I have more control over my time before having to go be a big girl and work a regular job. I have grown so much in the past year and a half, thanks to the many people I've gotten to speak to who are older than me and can impart their wisdom onto me.

When working on my studies, I don't want to continually lose sleep and destroy my body. Finding balance is tough.

Things that seem to be working well for me

Song and music recommendations

Websites and other internet URLs I think you might like

Books you might like

Honestly... I would like to find a book to read! That is on my to-do list. I've got so many unopened, neglected books on my bookshelf. Again, balance is hard.

But I think you might like the comic "It's Lonely At the Centre of the Earth" by Zoe Thurgood.

AI thoughts (will always be at the bottom, cuz I know we're all tired of it but we can't stop it!)

I watched two SANS webcasts this week. "Vibe Coding your Own Evasion Framework" and the "BugBusters SANS Webcast." Basically, you had some highly skilled practitioners talk about how to use AI for software development and vulnerability research. For a while I felt very jaded because I had the thought "what is the point of learning anything if AI will do it better and faster than me", but then I realized that in order to drive these new, very dangerous tools, you have to understand what the heck it is you are doing.

Imagine getting into a self-driving car. Would you be comfortable getting in it if you did not know how to drive? What if the car takes a wrong turn? What if you get into an accident? What if the car does not react to a car that's about to hit you, but you see it coming?

Or, what if you went to the doctor and you were trying to get a diagnosis, and the doctor was like "I never went to medical school I just give all your symptoms to ChatGPT..." would you trust that doctor? What if the doctor is using a robot to do some important surgery, but then the robot messes up and the doctor doesn't know the anatomy or procedures of the body part the robot was working on? Then what?

It's frustrating because it doesn't feel like anyone is publicly acknowledging what AI is doing to us junior devs and practitioners and how we can use AI to augment us, rather than replace us.

Thank you for reading my blog

Cheers,

Deadcore