News Summary

• Jevons Paradox: Increasing efficiency of a resource can lead to greater consumption.
• If one programmer can now do the work of five, then companies will fire 80% of their programmers.
• If AI ends up making certain types of workers more efficient, I hope the Jevons paradox holds, as it’s better than the alternative of labor market contraction.
• But we need to remain vigilant about its side effects, and keep an eye on the potential impact of AI on jobs..
• More efficient steam engines, for example, led to soot-stained buildings and the smoky start to the era of human-driven climate change.
• More recently, in the context of knowledge work, the arrival of digital communication tools such as email and Slack created similar unanticipated problems.