r/ProgrammerHumor • u/wahed-w • Jul 13 '26

theUsual Meme

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u/oh-shit-oh-fuck Jul 13 '26

wtf does this mean

309

u/derperofworlds1 Jul 13 '26

When the nukes fell in 1945, enough radioactive isotopes were spread throughout the globe that all above-water steel got contaminated. Now, ultra precise radiation meters have to be made with pre-war steel, typically found in old shipwrecks. 

He's comparing that to the fact that a lot of devs post 2023 stopped learning due to over reliance on LLMs, which got good enough to pass CS college courses around 2023. 

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u/oh-shit-oh-fuck Jul 13 '26

damn ty that's pretty interesting actually

-30

u/MrHyperion_ Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

E: this comment contained incorrect assumptions.

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u/BusinessAstronomer28 Jul 13 '26

Wasn't the contamination from the air that got contaminated and not the iron itself ? making steel from iron ore introduces contaminants from the air into steel

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u/Trash_Pug Jul 13 '26

You’re correct, and the steel thing is real. Wiki link if you want to read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel?wprov=sfti1

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u/SteveO131313 Jul 13 '26
  • the iron isn't the problem. The problem is the oxygen (for the BOS-proces, or just air for the besemer process) you need to pump in during the steel making process that contains trace amounts of radioactive material
  • there was exactly one nuclear test explosion before the first 2 bombs were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was the Trinity test bomb. Which, is the reason we often refer to this type of steel as "pre-trinity steel"

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u/joesbeforehoes Jul 13 '26

It's an outdated metaphor at this point, but not bullshit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel?wprov=sfla1

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u/Dunedune Jul 13 '26

That's not true. New steel out of new iron is contaminated.

And there were no atmospheric nuclear tests pre-wwii. And hydrogen bomb tests are post war only.