Software Rot & the Economics of Code: A Conversation with Robin Hanson

07/08/2025 47 min
Software Rot & the Economics of Code: A Conversation with Robin Hanson

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Episode Synopsis

Economist and ex-AI researcher Robin Hanson joins host Damien Filiatrault to explain why large codebases inevitably “rot,” how AI could make developers richer by expanding demand for software, and why looming population decline might stall innovation and hollow out today’s tech stack. Along the way they compare rot to technical debt, debate refactoring vs. rewriting, and ask whether non-software systems—from languages to corporations—face the same fate.