Tech Tycoons have actually Got the Economics of AI Wrong

Even as economic growth was simply taking off, some economists were already cynical. Coal, composed William in 1865, is “the mainspring of modern-day material civilisation”. Yet it was limited and would quickly run out. Although more could be found by digging deeper, it would be progressively pricey to extract and these higher costs would decrease the competitiveness of Britain’s producers. After all, in other countries the black fuel was still in sight of daylight. Efficiency gains-using less coal to produce the exact same quantity of stuff-would not save the nation. Indeed, cleverer usage of restricted resources would simply supply a reward to burn a lot more coal, which would, paradoxically, cause an even much faster usage of British reserves. There was no escape, the Victorian economic expert believed. Coal would be tired and the country was likely to “agreement to her former littleness”.

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This post appeared in the Finance & economics area of the print edition under the heading “Rocked by DeepSeek”

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