William Stanley Jevons

Jevons paradox: efficiency increases total consumption

When technology makes a resource cheaper or more efficient to use, total consumption goes up rather than down because demand explodes. Jevons predicted it for coal after the steam engine improved. Sam applies it to AI: code is getting much cheaper, so demand for software, and the work around it, will grow rather than shrink.

“An economic principle stating that as technology makes use of a resource more efficiently, the total consumption of that resource actually increases rather than decreases. Okay. So as something becomes more efficient, you would think you're using less of it because you're being more efficient, but in total, you use way more of it because the demand explodes.”

Steal thisWhen a technology makes something much cheaper, plan for demand to multiply rather than for the market to shrink.