This morning, when I put gas in my car, I grumbled because prices went up again. Today, gas prices rose to $4.55 per gallon.
But then, I started to ask a number of questions about what it took to get that six pounds of volatile liquid to me, particularly how software fueled the process. Software analyzed geological data and managed the drilling machines to make sure they didn't overheat. Software helped track weather and guided the giant ships transporting the fuel. It managed the refinery systems and provided safety monitoring. Further, it managed payment and pump operations to get it into my car.
Also: How to use ChatGPT to write code
Then, there's what it took to write the software that helped locate the fuel underground. It's certainly not one programmer sitting down with a Coke and pizza and writing code while listening to Rush. Industrial software, like that driving deep drilling machines, requires specialized software engineering.
And that software engineering was probably assisted by AI.
I find myself enormously excited yet deeply terrified in equal measure. AI may well be software engineering's "nuclear" moment, where we're bringing enormously powerful new capabilities into the world, but what's contained in those capabilities? The power to destroy.
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