[jbreckmckye]

There must be a name for the self-balancing phenomenon where any improvement in productivity is soon swallowed up by an equal increase in waste

[tjalfi]

Are you referring to Jevon's Paradox[0]?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

[jbreckmckye]

I guess it's a variant of that, Jevon's Paradox being that increasing supply counterintuitively increases demand

[cpeterso]

Nathan Myhrvold said “Software is a gas; it expands to fill its container.”

[jxjnskkzxxhx]

Must be it be swallowed up? Is it not possible that an improvement in productivity increases but still be net positive? I believe that's what happens in the real world.

[UncleEntity]

> Must be it be swallowed up?

Yes.

Because user CPU cycles are cheaper than developer brain power.