A curious and insightful view.

Those cycles however aren't really "spare", or they are spare only in terms of producing money. I'm paid for some part of my cycles, then I'm not paid for some other part (OSS, social Internet), and finally there are really spare cycles that I may enjoy as being literally spare, e.g. hanging out in a pub.

The second type of cycles, that is, when I may produce wealth with no immediate pay back are becoming increasingly important and potentially rewarding, thanks to the Internet. That's probably what Web 2.0 is about (no matter how much I hate this term :)

Touche!

The irony is, we are trying to use the spare cycles effectively, such that we can generate better spare cycles in the immediate future.

The recursive nature of this relationship guarantees success to the relentless, I guess, where the quality of the spare cycles keeps getting better.

YC runs thanks to our 'spare cycles.'

Or is it the other way round?

Our 'spare cycles' add value because of YC?