[TeMPOraL]

My intuition: to the extent it's possible to systematically create an edge for yourself, someone will be doing it, and they'll have a bunch of competitors trying to outdo it, perhaps swapping the "first place" amongst themselves, but also continuously raising the costs of maintaining the edge.

There's an equilibrium there, where the top players have some profits - not necessarily insane, but enough for them to continue the race and take some of it home. Meanwhile, the up-front costs of getting all the advanced tech and expertise to try and compete with them is high enough, that you're not likely to break even for years - so you won't bother, and no one else will either, and the pressure pulling those "insane profits" down disappears. Those profits look like money being left on the table, but no one can afford to reach for it.