Here’s a really good article- with illustrations- about something that theoretically can and so definitely will go wrong with “agentic coding” on any sufficiently large project. The Decoherence Trap
It warms my heart to read first-hand accounts of this starting to happen at real companies. I hope the financial AI crash holds off just a little longer to make sure they’ve all had enough time to dig themselves into holes past the point of no return.
I once rewrote a large component in our codebase, which was the right move because it was unmaintainable. When I was done, I was quite proud of myself and I also think that i designed it nicely and extensible (coherent pipes) while keeping the constraints of the rest of the system in mind. Then the slop commits came in and you could watch it deteriorate so fast it is insane and sad. And additionally, I stopped caring, which is an additional loss
Really articulates the issues with vibe coding. If you don’t spend the tokens focusing on coherence you’re lost. And if the model can’t increase coherence you’re fucked!
Here’s a really good article- with illustrations- about something that theoretically can and so definitely will go wrong with “agentic coding” on any sufficiently large project. The Decoherence Trap
It warms my heart to read first-hand accounts of this starting to happen at real companies. I hope the financial AI crash holds off just a little longer to make sure they’ve all had enough time to dig themselves into holes past the point of no return.
Thank you for sharing this article. It was a great read.
I once rewrote a large component in our codebase, which was the right move because it was unmaintainable. When I was done, I was quite proud of myself and I also think that i designed it nicely and extensible (coherent pipes) while keeping the constraints of the rest of the system in mind. Then the slop commits came in and you could watch it deteriorate so fast it is insane and sad. And additionally, I stopped caring, which is an additional loss
thank you for sharing that article
it’s a long read but a good one, well written and well thought out
This is the ultimate dream of the ai bros. We are trapped forever, using their service at an ever increasing rate.
Great article, thanks for sharing!
Really articulates the issues with vibe coding. If you don’t spend the tokens focusing on coherence you’re lost. And if the model can’t increase coherence you’re fucked!
That is a very accurate description of how i’ve felt lately. I hope more people see this.
Your well-wishing is appreciated (sorrynotsorry).
Thanks, this is indeed a good article!
Its more likely that it will hold on just long enough for the big players to offload their stakes to pension funds who will then cop the loss …