Efficiency, when paired with responsibility, can become the strongest force for sustainability we have. Despite the coal question becoming a bestseller in the 19th century and despite jevons' historic contributions to economics, the jevons paradox was mostly forgotten about in the 20th century. This paper examines how the problem of jevons’ paradox applies to ai, whereby eficiency gains may paradoxically spur increased consumption In short, jevons paradox occurs when improvements in efficiency lead to greater demand for a resource An early example was observed in the context of coal consumption in the 19th century. The jevons paradox has been applied to software development tools for decades now
As the efficiency of software development (and computing equipment) has steadily improved, the demand for applications, services, and data processing has soared. In 1865, economist william stanley jevons observed that more efficient coal engines didn’t reduce coal consumption—they exploded it More efficient technology made coal cheaper to use, opening new applications and ultimately increasing total consumption.
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