How
to Capitalize on the Burgeoning Multi-Faceted Technological
Revolution
By Anthony Rhodes
Machine
learning algorithms can review thousands of photographs to inform
physicians whether a patients’ tumor is benign or malignant (bye,
bye, biopsy) with over 90% accuracy. CRISPR allows researchers to
actually enter and edit genes; potentially eliminating maladies which
have been deleterious agents to human beings for centuries. And
Majoranas quasi-particles appear to finally solve the problem of
superposition; removing the primary obstacle to the onset of quantum
computers, which promises to solve problems within minutes that would
take current consoles years to arrive at.
Such
remarkable advancements are a culmination of our continued commitment
to Enlightenment ideas, and represents the vanguard of our long-term
transition from a species once governed by dogma and superstition, to
one whose foundations must now survive the disciplined scrutiny of
scientific rigor. Throughout the course of this transformation, a
peculiar twist of irony has emerged, which seems to reconcile the
long-lost Eden of our religious past, with the technological
aspirations of our current reality.
The
proposed panacea that these technologies seem destined to create
provides an unprecedented opportunity to achieve through science,
that which was lost through religious disobedience. While certainly
not as fertile as the original, this man-made version of Paradise
appears nonetheless to have bountiful fruits of its own...though
admittedly not nourished by the benevolent hand of an all-knowing,
all-powerful God, but instead by the torrential waters of monetary
liquidity, delivered of course by Adam Smith’s comparably
insignificant invisible hand of commerce.
The Tree of Life
Just
about every day, I read about incredible scientific discoveries which
are taking place within the worlds’ prominent academic
institutions. I commonly take notes about those which I perceive to
hold the most promising investment opportunities, but by weeks’
end, the list is so long, that the time it would take to thoroughly
research them all would occupy the lions’ share of nearly all of my
waking hours. Fortunately, the investing gods has bestowed upon us
Biotech ETF’s (Exchange Trading Funds) which encompasses the
complete names of the previously stated sector. Throughout the course
of my reading, I’ve noticed that some of the more promising
research is funded by grants from biotech companies. So, by
purchasing the ETF, I immediately gain access to its upside when and
if any of these discoveries ever make it to market.
The Seed of Many Fruit
Commercial
technologies don’t have to wade through the asperity of time
associated with discoveries made via academic institutions, and as
such, should be approached through a more singular lens when deciding
how to capitalize off of them. While technology mutual funds offer an
opportunity to profit from the sector as a whole, groundbreaking
discoveries generally tend to migrate towards individual companies,
and should therefore occupy your attention when deciding how best to
profit from them. Some of the largest tech companies have scores of
their brightest employees working diligently on what’s called
“moonshots”. These are far-reaching ideas that, if ever they
materialize, would become incredibly remunerative for both the brand
and its shareholders. With the rewards for comprehensive analysis of
Big Data, methods to extend Moore’s Law, and techniques to
establish stable quantum logic gates literally in the billions of
dollars (and in their best interest to solve), you can rest assured
that these companies have ‘moonshot’ solutions in the works to
meet them. As a result, by owning the names of the most profitable
and innovative among them, you increase the odds that you’ll be
able to benefit once these breakthroughs are eventually unveiled.
I can’t
conclude our topic of Eden without ultimately addressing the two
terms which are most closely associated with it: temptation and the
forbidden fruit. Doctrine states that these items hold primary
responsibility for mankind’s banishment from this wondrous place,
and in our emerging replica of Paradise, they both stand primed to
repeat the same feats of subversion, if we are not careful. Our
version of temptation includes the belief that these newfound tools
will imbue us with a longevity akin to immortality; removing the need
seek out lasting relationships, as they will no longer be required
within lives lived in perpetual youth. Such a reality conjures
thoughts of limitless pursuits of hedonistic indiscretions, which are
only subsided when our conquests attain the level of boredom, and not
due to those passions resigning to the limits of old age, as nature
intended them to do. But perhaps even more troubling is our version
of the forbidden fruit; that mesmerizing and alluring delicacy which
hypnotically draws us in, despite our intelligence and better
judgment warning us to either resist or to abscond. Hubris is our
forbidden fruit. A hubris which assures us of the godlike powers of
these technologies, and that our glorification of them should
supersede that given to the God of Edens’ past. Because in the
process of doing so, we will not only betray all the hard-earned
lessons learned during our arduous path to Enlightenment, but will
also reduce ourselves to a species destined to continuously exchange
one form of deity worship for another.
(Anthony
Rhodes is the President and owner of wealth management firm The
Planning Perspective www.theplanningperspective.com
)
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