Mobile & Wireless Roundup No. 123
Welcome to the 123rd edition of this newsletter. This week, I came across some fascinating paradoxes—perhaps you did too, as one of them was in the news.
The first is Jevons’ Paradox, which states that increasing the efficiency of resource use often leads to greater overall consumption rather than a reduction. For example, as energy-efficient technologies lower costs, the demand for energy tends to rise instead of decline.
The second is Moravec’s Paradox, an observation in artificial intelligence and robotics that tasks requiring high-level reasoning (such as playing chess) are relatively easy for AI, while basic sensory-motor skills (such as walking or grasping objects) remain challenging. In other words, what is hard for humans is often easy for machines, and vice versa.
Both paradoxes reveal how technological progress does not always lead to expected outcomes. Jevons’ Paradox suggests that efficiency gains do not necessarily reduce total resource use, just as Moravec’s Paradox suggests that AI’s advancements do not always align with our assumptions about difficulty. Together, they highlight how innovation can produce counterintuitive or even paradoxical effects.
Another relevant concept is the Productivity Paradox, which highlights how advances in computing and automation do not always lead to immediate productivity gains—just as AI has yet to replace human workers as quickly as once predicted.
Finally, there is Amara’s Law, named after Roy Amara, which states: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” This principle ties into both Jevons’ and Moravec’s paradoxes— showing that while efficiency improvements and AI breakthroughs may not deliver the expected results immediately, they can lead to unforeseen long-term consequences.
As always, technology continues to evolve in surprising ways. I hope you find these paradoxes as thought-provoking as I did!
For those of you who don’t know me, I am a technologist with over 25 years’ experience in mobile wireless technology, currently working as an independent advisor, analyst, consultant and a trainer. This newsletter is a summary of my posts and other news that caught my attention since the last newsletter.
? 6G
? 5G
? Open & Disaggregated Networks (including Open RAN, vRAN, etc.)
? Spectrum
? Private Networks
领英推荐
? Telecoms Infrastructure, Small Cells, Antennas & others
? IoT / M2M / Smart Homes
? Virtualization, Cloud & Edge
? Security & Privacy
? Smartphones, Devices, Wearables & Gadgets
? AI, ML & Automation
? Satellites, HAPS, Drones, UAVs & Space
? Other News and Technology Stuff
? Picture of the week: Cinnamoroll is a small, chubby dog with white fur, blue eyes, pink cheeks, a plump, curly tail resembling a cinnamon roll (hence his name), and long, thick ears that enable him to fly. He is a Sanrio character and the main protagonist of the Cinnamoroll universe. Not only does the CTM SIM card in Macau feature a Cinnamoroll design, but even the included SIM pin is Cinnamoroll-themed.
Happy to hear your thoughts. Feel free let me know what worked, what didn’t, how I can make this better, etc. Get in touch over LinkedIn!
PDF version of this and previous newsletters are available here.
Conference Production Specialist | Doctor of Philosophy I NetworkX Americas I NetworkX Paris I AutoTech 2025 Detroit
3 周Great advice!
Principal Analyst & Consultant at 3G4G
4 周This newsletter has been compiled with contributions from Dean Bubley, Mohamed Abbas, Peter Clarke, Nathan Todd, Afzal Mangal, Denis Laskov and Paul Rhodes. Thanks as always for sharing stuff on LinkedIn & X (f.k.a. Twitter) ??!