Thinking through paradoxes

If your LinkedIn feed is anything like mine, you’ll have read a lot about Jevons Paradox over the last few days.

This paradox suggests that increasing the efficiency of resource use can sometimes lead to an increase in overall consumption. In the context of AI, this means that even if individual models become more efficient, the resulting lower cost and increased accessibility could lead to a surge in demand for computation.

Paradoxes are a great tool of thought as they force us to think about the counterintuitive. They expose flawed assumptions and improve problem-solving and reasoning skills.

Here are a few of my favourites, kicking off with the one everyone’s talking about this week.

Jevons Paradox – Greater efficiency in resource use often increases total consumption rather than reducing it.

The Paradox of Plenty – Countries rich in natural resources often struggle with slower economic growth and weaker institutions.

The Paradox of the Commons - When individuals act in their own self-interest, they deplete a shared resource, harming everyone.

The Paradox of Thrift – If everyone saves more during a recession, overall demand falls, worsening the downturn.

The St. Petersburg Paradox – A game with an infinite expected payout that no rational person would pay much to play.

Braess’ Paradox – Adding roads to a network can increase traffic congestion instead of reducing it.

Simpson’s Paradox – A trend appears in different groups of data but reverses when the groups are combined.

Russell’s Paradox (one to ponder for the day) – Does the set of all sets that do not contain themselves contain itself?

And I’ll leave you with one my grandmother used to put so simply: Less is more.