Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Semiconductor manufacturing improvements like this really have enabled the whole tech world improvements of the last few decades. I would argue that for software it had the opposite effect, and has led to layers upon layers of crap. No need to ever fix that when you can rely on the next cpu being twice as fast.
Don't forget that optimization also costs time. Performance improvements just shifted the equilibrium between optimization and output. In the world where every programmer was forced to optimize their code, we'd have a lot less code.
From your lips to God's ears.