alt Hacker NewsIn certain industries, increasing productivity by 90% does not mean 90% increase in profit. This is because growth depends on market TAM and growth rate.
Another way of increasing profit is to simply reduce your headcount by 90% while keeping the same profit.*
Hence, I think some companies will keep downsizing. Some companies will hire. It depends a lot.
*Assuming 90% productivity increase.
In companies like the oil industry, doubling productivity would mean reducing the expected life span. Costs tend to catch up with profits, especially due to taxes. Layoffs happen inevitably.
Is it the same with tech? Facebook has 3 billion monthly active users. No amount of tech will bring that up to 6 billion. If you were to double the amount of time someone spends on Facebook, or double the ads they see or double the click through rate, what does that really mean?