That's not because programming has gotten fundamentally easier, though, but rather because the tolerances have been widened by the progress of the underlying technology, removing some of the constraints. It's like saying tightrope-walking is easier now that all the ropes are a foot off the ground and falling off, touching the ground, and getting back on--that is, screwing up--is now a regular part of the show (like consuming 800MB of memory is now a regular part of peoples' applications.)
I think the argument can be made that the invention of the £Tightrope Support Scaffolding (whatever) made Learning How To Walk A Tightrope significantly easier. Programmer in, Application out.
But you are right of course about the downside of this evolution, which is wasteful use of resources.
If oil would suddenly become 10x cheaper, it would make it easier to drive long distances but would also lead to waste of fuel.
