Conversation Starters
VR Clarity in an Underwater Biosphere
More consumer interaction with AR/VR and the Metaverse is necessary for their widespread acceptance and adoption. However, I think it’s important to highlight where these technologies are increasingly deployed for their utility—in industry. I believe it’s their industrial applications that can best help investors understand where this disruption is headed.
These thoughts occurred to me as I took in CES, noting gaming companies’ latest immersive technologies, which are synonymous with CES. They were on display again this year with a host of new functionalities, including haptic bodysuits that engage human senses. But it wasn’t a gaming company that pulled led me to into the Metaverse, it was a German industrial manufacturer.
I visited Siemens’ booth in the industrial wing of the VR showcase, and before I knew it, I had a headset on. Siemens’ VR took me to a simulated biosphere called Nemo’s Garden, the company’s Italian partner that’s leveraging oceanic conditions to create an underwater environment that can produce crops.1
Digital Twin Efficiencies Worthy of a Doubletake
The use of AI and real-time sensor input to build and test complete 3D replicas of systems fascinates me. I think the operational efficiencies, cost savings, and crisis management capabilities gained from digital twin technology can be industry-shifting. Current economic headwinds, the pullback in globalization and rise of reshoring, and the corporate sustainability push can all help accelerate its adoption.
Today, monitoring and analysis are digital twin tech’s primary uses. For example, farmers use digital twins to monitor plant biology and to help determine optimal planting locations for plant types. Construction firms use digital twins to analyze prospective projects for their potential impact on the physical landscape and existing infrastructure, and to analyze completed projects for strengths and weaknesses.3
Eventually, industrial users could go beyond monitoring and may be able to replicate and manipulate operations on factory floors virtually, for example. Workers may be able to oversee operations from their desks while robots complete tasks within the factory’s physical and digital worlds simultaneously.4
Reverse Technology Transfer a Likely Trend
Historically, the military offers good examples of how technology transfer works. In short, R&D spending results in an end product for military use that eventually makes its way to civilian markets. We can thank the military for such products as the Jeep, the microwave, and orange juice concentrate.
As its ability to roleplay expands, I would be surprised if VR training does not become more commonplace for doctors, salespeople, retail workers, and maybe even for those of us on Wall Street.
I’m on board.
Let’s Chart: Debt Ceiling Fight Likely to Ratchet Up Volatility
Current wrangling over the debt ceiling recalls the July 2011 debacle when lawmakers didn’t raise the ceiling until two days before the government was estimated to run out of cash. The possibility of a shutdown rattled markets and triggered rises in the 10-year Treasury yield and gold prices in the first half of 2011. Thereafter, the 10-year Treasury declined sharply as the S&P downgraded U.S. long-term federal debt for the first time.
We anticipate downside risk from the current debt ceiling negotiations should they drag. Such political brinkmanship combined with slowing economic growth, declining corporate earnings, a hawkish Fed, and possible default or downgrade scenarios would likely prolong volatility in the near term.
To Wrap It Up: Portfolio Considerations
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