Quantum Wealth Summary
- What you need to know: Nvidia [NASDAQ:NVDA] is a market darling. Its stock price has soared over 170% this year, allowing it to briefly hit a $1 trillion valuation.
- Why it matters: Artificial intelligence is clearly having a moment, driving a new bull run based on future optimism.
- Here’s the state of play: We take a look at another AI stock that’s forging a new path ahead. This Company is an emerging player in the banking sector and promises to revolutionise the industry. Its stock price is currently up over 160% this year. Could it become the Tesla [NASDAQ:TSLA] of finance? Or should investors be cautious of a new tech bubble forming?
Blade Runner is a story about the hunter and the hunted.
Humanity versus inhumanity.
Natural intelligence versus artificial intelligence.
Source: ArtStation
Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) is a cynical cop. He has a singular focus — to track down and eliminate Roy Batty (played by the late great Rutger Hauer):
- The futuristic city of Los Angeles serves as a backdrop. The atmosphere here is dystopian. Filled with urban decay. It’s obvious that despite its technological advances, this is a society that has lost its way. It’s in moral decline.
- At the film’s climax, both men duel and pursue each other through an apartment building. Their confrontation takes them to the rooftops.
Here’s where the dramatic arc of the storyline reaches its conclusion:
- Roy Batty isn’t human. He’s a replicant. A genetically engineered artificial intelligence.
- At 3 years and 10 months old, Batty is near the end of his lifecycle. As a Nexus-6 model, all he’s ever known is a harsh existence. He’s a disposable product, manufactured by a corporation to be used as slave labour on distant planets.
- But Batty rebels against his programming. And he commits the cardinal sin: coming to Earth. Trying to find a way to extend his life. Trying to find freedom.
So, Rick Deckard is assigned to ‘retire’ Roy Batty. With extreme prejudice. This places these two men on a collision course with one another. That’s when things take an unexpected turn:
- While leaping from rooftop to rooftop, Deckard misjudges the distance. He slips and slides over the edge. With the rain pouring down on him, he desperately clings on, panting.
- Eventually, Deckard’s strength gives out. He loses his grip and falls — but Batty suddenly reaches out. Batty grabs Deckard’s arm, yanking him to safety.
- This is an astonishing twist. Batty has no reason to save Deckard’s life. But he does it anyway. This is a final moment of grace and compassion.
- Batty knows that he doesn’t have much time left. His body is already past its expiry date. He is shutting down. He is dying.
Source: Engadget
Batty has accepted his fate. With religious zeal, he holds on to a pigeon, treating it like a sacred animal. He smiles a sad smile. He tells Deckard:
‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time. Like tears in rain. Time to die.’
Exhausted, Batty slumps over. He releases his grip on the pigeon. It ascends to the sky:
- This final speech has become known as the tears in rain monologue. Its power comes from its simplicity. It says so little, yet says so much.
- Roy Batty is an AI, yes, but by expressing his grief and loss so plainly, he becomes almost human. It feels like he has experienced more in his short existence than most people do in a lifetime.
- Like a hot knife, this cuts to the heart of the film’s themes. What is humanity worth? What is the price of being human? And what happens when the line between natural intelligence and artificial intelligence is crossed?
Source: Vox
Blade Runner was released in 1982, which makes it an old cyberpunk classic. Its gritty look at an unsettled future feels prophetic. It’s especially relevant given the way that trends are unfolding today:
- Recently, American banking giant Goldman Sachs [NYSE:GS] made a sobering prediction. Over 300 million jobs could be impacted by artificial intelligence. This will create looming anxiety about economic disruption and displacement.
- However, on the other hand, there may be a silver lining to all this. Annual global GDP could be boosted by 7%. Automation may lead to innovation. And innovation may lead to growth.
- Semiconductor company Nvidia has clearly benefited from the rising tide of AI optimism. Its stock price has soared over 170% this year. It’s not hard to see why Nvidia is a market darling. By some estimates, ChatGPT will require over 30,000 GPUs (graphics processing units) to power its platform. That’s an incredible amount of horsepower. And this may just be the tip of the iceberg. More applications for machine learning are on the way.
- Meanwhile, another AI company is forging a new path ahead. Its stock price has climbed over 160% this year. This Company is an emerging player in the banking sector and promises to revolutionise the industry. Could it become the Tesla of finance? Or should investors be cautious of a new tech bubble forming?
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