Is it possible the size of the market for hand woven rugs has actually stayed the same, and the mass produced variety has simply filled the void for the large segment who were never able to afford them?

I think that's exactly what happened.

Except it doesn't seem the software is getting cheaper for the end user, even though it is arguably getting cheaper to build.

Paradoxically, the costs of running the software seem to keep rising, both for running it on a local machine or as a subscription.

Ironically AI companies driving up the price of components might increase the demand for efficient software to save costs

Absolutely. Thinking in zero-sum terms seems to be this community’s default now and that’s a sad situation given where we came from.

People are scared is why.

Yeah, the small, useful bits of code I've made this year at work could have been contracted out in years past (we're a tiny non-tech co). But in addition to expense, there's the hassle of coordinating it, QA, etc. Really dont need all that for a project that connects a couple APIs with a minimal UI to help automate something previously done by hand.

It would’ve been done with a coding agent anyway if contracted out.

With software I'm seeing a lot of people who would never have been able to build something, and wouldn't have hired a developer now try their hand at selling it

Some of those will go on to be successful and need technical people to support it

For rugs especially it is definitely not true. Most ultra-premium projects are also using machine-made rugs and carpets.

If handmade one appears it is as some centerpiece, and remaining ones are machine-made.

This comment doesn't help the pedant

I'm not sure I understand, are you suggesting that Tom Scott made it up?

No, not at all. Just that I've heard maybe 10 people over the years mention ways to harness power grid fluctuations and they all had watched the tom Scott video.