> Unfortunately I think we're entering (have entered?) a period of insanity.

It’s been true for a long time. One of the hardest things as a senior leader in software is dealing with people demanding “accountability” (by which they mean making long-term plans with impossibly precise forecasts) and focusing on costs, all while ignoring value and refusing to engage in prioritization. (I swear, if I hear “it’s all important” again…)

People are just… shallow. They operate on feelings and vibes. They follow the herd without thinking critically. Then they get angry when their dreams clash with reality, and they blame the messenger when those dreams turn out to be fantasies.

But you’re right. AI is bringing out the worst in these tendencies. I think it’s because it’s so convincing when you don’t dig deeply, or aren’t an expert in the subject being discussed. On the plus side, it raises the floor, but I think we’re in for some difficult times before the lessons are learned. I don’t think it will take long, though: I suspect that naive use of AI is going to massively speed up the technical debt curve, and where it used to take 5-9 years to destroy a codebase, it will now take closer to 1-2.