Paul Welty, PhD AI, WORK, AND STAYING HUMAN

Nested resources in Ruby on Rails: why bother?

Discover the pros and cons of using nested resources in Ruby on Rails and learn when they truly add value to your application development.

Nested resources in Ruby on Rails are sort of neat, but they are a pain to implement. What’s more, I have to ask myself, why bother?

If a resource has a unique identifier id, then why would you need to call its parent resource to call it? The unique identifier is enough. And what resource doesn’t have a unique id these days?

· ruby-on-rails

Featured writing

When your brilliant idea meets organizational reality: a survival guide

Transform your brilliant tech ideas into reality by navigating organizational challenges and overcoming hidden resistance with this essential survival guide.

Server-Side Dashboard Architecture: Why Moving Data Fetching Off the Browser Changes Everything

How choosing server-side rendering solved security, CORS, and credential management problems I didn't know I had.

AI as Coach: Transforming Professional and Continuing Education

Transform professional and continuing education with AI-driven coaching, offering personalized support, accountability, and skill mastery at scale.

Books

The Work of Being (in progress)

A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.

The Practice of Work (in progress)

Practical essays on how work actually gets done.

Recent writing

The bully pulpit: why AI slop only matters to people who write about AI slop

This article exposes how the 'AI moral crisis' narrative is amplified by the very people who control media—and why the 90% of workers actually using AI don't share the panic.

Why your job matters more than mine: the selective morality of job loss

This article reveals the uncomfortable pattern behind which jobs get moral protection and which get called 'market forces'—and what that means for everyone outside the creative class.

AI in writing: the end of a professional monopoly

This article reframes the AI writing debate: the panic isn't about creativity—it's about a professional class losing control of the systems they've gatekept for a century.

Notes and related thinking

Google Criticized for Privacy Issues

Explore the critique of Google’s privacy practices as Ian Hickson defends the company's intentions and highlights the impact of public skepticism.

Llama 2 avoids errors by staying quiet, GPT-4 gives long, if useless, samples

Discover how Llama 2 outperforms GPT-4 in generating reliable code, revealing crucial insights on the effectiveness of large language models.

NoMethodError (undefined method `finder') with Engines and Rails 2.2

Fix the NoMethodError with ActionMailer in Rails 2.2 by applying a simple patch. Save time and troubleshoot efficiently with our guide.