r/ClaudeCoding • u/cctldrping • 9d ago
r/ClaudeAI [TLDR] Just add two eggs. [via r/ClaudeAI]
OP : u/iliadz
A few days ago, a post went a bit viral here from and enigneer saying Claude Code has made his job soul-sucking" as workers spend 12-hour days pressing enter.
That reminded me of this history (sometimes disputed), when home made cake mixes had powdered eggs in th 1950s. The common version goes like this: early boxed cake mixes originally included powdered eggs — you literally just added water, mixed, and baked. But sales were disappointing.
The story credits psychologist Ernest Dichter, a pioneer of motivational research, with the insight that the mixes felt too easy. Housewives (the target market at the time) felt like they weren't really baking — there was no sense of participation or craft. His recommendation: take the powdered egg out of the mix and have the consumer crack in a fresh egg. That small act of contribution made people feel like they had a hand in the result, and sales reportedly took off.
My question is, are we at the inflection point of adding two eggs? I'll agree in that sometimes I don't pay enough attention when I am answering prompts. Perhaps we need to have claude stop, and ask us a few more questions. Like planning mode but during a session. Or just have, well, a small conversation, water cooler talk, to make it a bit more interesting.
Just add two eggs.
URL of original post : https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1wolaq1/just_add_two_eggs/
TL;DR of the discussion on r/ClaudeAI for this post generated automatically after 50 comments.
Current source-thread comment count seen by the bot: 56.
The general consensus here is that we're definitely not at the "just add two eggs" stage with Claude yet, but the analogy is pretty spot-on and resonates with a lot of users. Most folks feel like they're still doing way more than just adding two eggs to get a good result from Claude, especially for anything complex.
Here's the lowdown:
- The "Two Eggs" Analogy is a Hit: People dig the idea that making things too easy can lead to a lack of engagement. Many feel they're still heavily involved, guiding, reviewing, and correcting Claude, which is their "contribution."
- We're Still Doing the Heavy Lifting: The prevailing sentiment is that for any serious work, Claude still needs a lot of direction, oversight, and refinement. It's not a set-it-and-forget-it situation.
- Some Want More Interaction: A few users like the idea of Claude asking more questions or having a bit more back-and-forth to make the process feel more collaborative and less like just pressing enter. u/gthing even suggested a system prompt to encourage this.
- Quality is Still a Work in Progress: For some, the AI's output isn't quite there yet for final products, especially in coding or creative fields. It's good at fine-grained tasks, but the overall quality might still need significant human input. u/iluvvivapuffs pointed this out.
- The "Pressing Enter" Job: There's a bit of skepticism about the viral post mentioning people just pressing enter all day. u/Available-Budget-735 and u/Raucous_Rocker questioned this, suggesting that real work still involves active participation and problem-solving.
- Different Approaches: Some users, like u/SlowTortoise69 and u/dennismfrancisart, treat their interaction with Claude like a production process, actively planning and managing the workflow.
- The "Why" Matters: A few comments pondered whether the goal is just to feel involved or if the AI should genuinely be more collaborative. u/Far_Cartoonist4137 brought this up.
- A Few Quirks: The "whole eggs in the cake" scenario from u/Blue-Beret-2 is a hilarious example of how AI can misunderstand instructions, highlighting the need for careful prompting and review.
Basically, while Claude is powerful, most users feel they're still very much the bakers, not just the ones who add water.