Framework · 2 notes · discussed by Benedict Evans, Scott Wu

Jevons Paradox

Every note in the archive that names Jevons Paradox: summaries, key takeaways and links to the original essays, episodes and posts. Ask a question below to get a cited answer from just these notes’ authors.

Q:
Answers quote and cite the source notes
Lenny’s Podcast109 min

A rational conversation on where AI is actually going

Benedict Evans · May 31, 2026
Key learnings
  • Treat AI as roughly as big as the internet or mobile, and recognize we are early, like 1997, with most applications not yet built…
  • Expect adoption to be very uneven; survey data shows many people are not using AI at all, so don't assume the people in your…
  • Ask whether a job is a task that can be automated or a deeper outcome; consultants and professionals are hired for judgment…
Lenny’s Podcast131 min

How Devin replaces your junior engineers with infinite AI interns that never sleep

Scott Wu · Sep 8, 2025
Key learnings
  • Treat an AI agent like a junior engineer: scope it with well-defined tasks rather than open-ended problems, and start with small…
  • Run several agents asynchronously in parallel and only step in for the portions needing human judgment, such as scoping…
  • Invest up front in setup for the agent: connect repositories, teach it how to run lint and CI, and give it a virtual machine so…