Bryan Liles

I’ve probably shared this before, but you can’t use GenAI as a substitute for your lack of taste. That goes for coding, writing, and other planning tasks. GenAI is a multiplier and that means `💩x GenAI = 💩`

Machine learns to write— the dash betrays its author— no human typed that

Aren’t you all tired of imagining if Obama did something like we are seeing now? Things can be bad without a comparison to the Black guy we (still) like.

I took a long walk around DC today. Here is the reflecting pool. I’ve never seen it this green. Congratulations to all.

We did it!

Your favorite GenAI talking head used to be a crypto talking head. In two years, they will be a fluxity talking head.

I’ve seen some blog posts and YouTube videos saying we should move from markdown to html when working with genAi agents. You can already embed html in markdown if needed. Why do we continuously try to reinvent the wheel and call it progress?

So, come to find out, it is possible to create a reparations program after all.

I now see why people own multiple 3D printers. Got a Bambu P2S recently and I’m now contemplating another one or a bigger one.

My Claude Code subscription pays for itself. I get more out of it in function and $ than I put in it. This morning's session got me 100% of the features I use for a running app I subscribe to.

How am I supposed to show up every day and be a productive member of society, when I frequently see stuff like this?

Now that more people are using gen ai, there other skills to focus on that you can’t automate away: 1. Taste - you build a sense of what works/doesn’t work after getting your hands dirty over time 2 - Marketing - how do you share a project/idea with the world?

In my tech career, we've gone from modems to frame relay to ISDN, to cable modems to FIOS with a potential for multiple Gb/s to my house. We also moved from flip phones to Palm Treos to iPhones. I've coded in C, Java, Python, Go and Rust. I used to write most of my software. Now claude-opus does.

The people who built Kubernetes and React weren't only good devs. They were deep in one area and literate across several others. Don't look at the outputs and assume the hard part was the building, not taste. GenAI doesn't change this. You still need to develop taste for what will and won't work.

If coding is your favorite part of software engineering, keep coding. AI doesn't stop you. But if coding was the only part you were good at, that's a different conversation. The job was always bigger than the code. #bransoncognac blog.bryanl.dev/posts/ai-sen...

I’m using agents in Claude cli and Kiro cli to answer what if. Previously, we could never go chase down all the questions in our heads due to lack of time and energy. Today, I’m building things only to see what happens. If I don’t like the outcome, I build another thing. Feels like a super power.

I’m having lots of success using tools like Claude code to think, iterate on ideas, and write useful code. As someone who has been coding a very long time, this is a real improvement. The best part is that if I want to write something myself, I still can. But why? So many problems, so little time.

I have this sneaking suspicion that a lot of people in tech don't know how tech actually works. You sitting down at a keyboard and write love letters (code) is a very small part of big success.

The same people who were selling digital monkeys and internet coins are now telling you they use GenAI to build code that they never read. I don't know how this story ends, but it's not one with a happy ending.

How are you supposed to learn how to code if you can’t copy the code out of the back of a Byte magazine?

Wrote a blog post about a problem I keep hearing about running into: the AI builds exactly what I asked for, but three months later I can't remember why I asked for it that way. blog.bryanl.dev/posts/change...

I love a good book. This one also has exercises and answers! Illustrated guide to AI by Welch Labs.

Interesting software is all about taste. GenAI will not improve your taste.

You know why we create tests for the code we write? It is because we have not found many better ways to prove that our software works. Tests are evidence, not faith.

I have opinions about GenAI agents. Too many for Bluesky, so I wrote a whole blog post instead. blog.bryanl.dev/posts/agent-...

The best part about this new world of GenAI is we came blame our shortcomings on computers. Like for real this time.

Constantly impressed by the quality of content coming from Welch Labs. Their last video was very good. youtu.be/D8GOeCFFby4?...

If you live in DC, you can go lunch spots where congress staffers and lobbyists frequent. They don’t know anything about speaking so everyone can’t hear their conversations. And they talk about the most vile things. The US’ current regression is 100% on purpose.

I know people who were arrested for sit-ins in the 60s. I also know people who participated in bus boycotts. My parents went to segregated and then integrated high schools. I’m not surprised, but am still disgusted by the people who were written and are still wrong now.

I shared this post with ChatGPT and it is denying that something like this could exist at the White House. Now I need to find a second source affirming the authenticity of this post.

We need to stop prioritizing perceived civility over justice. Most of the problems you’ve encountered during your lifetime have been caused by a group of people attempting to look civil.

25 year old Bryan would not believe that double that age Bryan loves to run so much. Not even fast running. I finally think I understand how people can get into that meditative state. Great for reducing anxiety and feeling more mobile throughout the day.

I need to master the skill of being confidently wrong in public. I’m almost jealous of y’all who do it well.

Why are y’all still buying Teslas?

Everything is fine

After almost 20 years on what we now call social media, I think I’m tired of having access to everyone’s thoughts. Some things need to stay in the head.

The jobless person in my house has opinions

Supremacy isn’t strength, it’s fear selling wolf tickets. You see it in pull requests, in politics, and right here on BlueSky. Same pattern: defend the fragile, call it elite.

Healthcare is really expensive, and many people are struggling to afford it. However, most people don’t know how it got this way. It boils down to the same problem the US has with literally everything else: it would have benefited Black people, so we allowed the states to discriminate.

SNAP might be going away this weekend. I’m going to be out in the streets writing extra checks. Who is going to be out there with me?

When they go low, kick them in the face. (metaphorically of course)

I know some of y’all hate politics, but here is the reality: you are at the table or you are on the menu. You have a choice to decide where you end up.

I'm seeing new extensions in the Agentic space, like MCP-UI which use the term "open" in their descriptions. Open is not only having your code on GitHub. It's also putting your governance structure at the forefront. Open for interaction > open for reading or inclusion.

I know y’all mean well, but think about the signaling when you talk about Black folks and then say “instead they get … ordinary people.”

This is happening tomorrow.

GenAI is a multiplier. So `X * Y = output` where Y is the multiplier. It could be a 10x or a 100x multiplier. But, you also have to think about X. If X is shit, you'll get 10x or 100x shit.

I'm finishing up slides for a talk I'm doing at @allthingsopen.bsky.social next week, and I'm working on quotable phrases. "Good boundaries are how systems stay friends." is my favorite so far. This is my first public talk in *years*, so I'm excited to give it.

I heard this today, and it's not sitting well because it's true: "Black people in America are so deeply entrenched in systems of oppression that an oppression against anyone is inevitably going to spill into our backyard" This is why I'm against any form of oppression against anyone.