Jevons Paradox Resurfaces in AI Debates: Efficiency Gains Drive Up Total Consumption
burny_tech · x · 2026-09-29
Citing the classic Jevons paradox, the author argues that technological efficiency gains tend to increase rather than decrease total resource consumption — as economist William Stanley Jevons observed with coal in 1865. The point is applied to the ongoing AI debate over whether efficiency improvements will reduce compute demand: cheaper per-use costs typically induce more demand.
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