Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
FYI: Ric Edelman, founder and chairman of Edelman Financial Services, has published eight books. His latest, “The Truth About Your Future: The Money Guide You Need Now, Later, and Much Later,” targets the future of personal finance and what investors need to know for the technological revolution already occurring around us. Regards, Ted http://www.etf.com/sections/features-and-news/edelman-truth-about-your-future?nopaging=1
Of (writer meant "If") you talk to advisors in the field or experts in technology, experts in the field, they're talking about the latest financial planning software, or the hot new rebalancing product. They're not talking about exponential technologies, which is an entirely different conversation.
So most people are unaware of the field of exponential technologies, and have no knowledge that this ETF exists, or why it’s different from all the others. I think for both of those reasons, it’s not on the radar of many in the industry.
My question as the reader, "What is Exponential Technology?"
Edelman can use the term, but nowhere in the article does he (or the interviewer) define it. Nor does he explain how he filters for ET when he buys companies that have it.
Some how 197 companies appear to have it according to his EFT XT's portfolio. The top ten holdings amount to a mere 6% of the EFT's AUM...not very concentrated.
He personally (I assume Edelmen Financial) holds 75% of the EFT (down from 100% when he created it the ETF). I will assume it has been pedaled quite heavily to his "sheeple" (who I'm sure have heard of it).
I've heard enough, I'll pass.
In XT's short history (2 years) it appears less impressive than "Unexponential Technology" ETF, QQQ:
Thanks @LewisBraham, Just some comments on your article:
The process of digitization does not create information, it codes information. You have to first have information to code it.
Information is digitized by first using analog input devices (keyboards, microphones, scanners, etc). These analog devices allow us as humans to digitize our information. So "digitization" is the process of analog data becoming digital data and the heart of this is the micro-processor.
edit: I'll agree with Old_Joe that more and more of this digitizing is done without human input. For me, passing a driverless truck on the (Florida, Ohio, Penn turnpike etc) sometime this year will feel like seeing a headless horsemen.
The micro-processor stores (forever) and processes (tirelessly) digital information in a multitude of ways and it truly is on an exponential technology journey. Its capacity to store and process more and more information into smaller and smaller spaces and do this at faster and faster speeds is truly mind blowing. No less mind blowing than when the first digital processor and its controllers (of Electro-Mechanical devices) output audible sound (to speakers), written word (to printers), and, as the article alluded to, CAD drawings into 3D printed models.
Our car, home, and work place will soon have the same digitization as our cell phone. More and more of us are swept up as consumers of this digital world and access is not free when these devices overwhelm our privacy and influence our decision making.
Couples who have lived together for a very long time finish each others sentences (and thoughts) and we think its cute. My concern is that with all of this digitization, these seemingly free apps observes us...learns our ways... and before we know it they are finishing our thoughts quite possibly influence they way we think.
I call it front running, but instead of front running stocks its people's thoughts and actions.
I guess this type of thinking is a bit 1984 of me, but I think...or do I?
"The process of digitization does not create information, it codes information. You have to first have information to code it."
@bee- Well, yes, to a point. However, these days the analog-to-digital process is so automatic and interwoven that much of it it is created digitally for all practical purposes. For example, it's technically true that all of the information available as an output from a vehicle computer was detected by analog sensors, processed by the computer, and made available as a digital output. Actually, some of those sensors self-contain the A/D conversion as an integrated circuit, so the sensor output is actually digital.
Before digitization some of those vehicle status indicators were available as direct human-read analog info: the speedometer, engine rpm, oil pressure, water temp, and so forth. But there is infinitely more vehicle performance data now available, thanks to digitization, most of which would not be directly actionable by humans in any case.
If it's already that complex for just a regular vehicle, imagine what's going on in aircraft, manufacturing, space operations, etc.
Why a toaster needs to be part of this information universe though is frankly beyond me.
I added a note to my 1st post and it got me thinking about you out in SF...remember the movie Duel? I think it's time for a remake of this classic with an autonomous truck.
Comments
Edelman can use the term, but nowhere in the article does he (or the interviewer) define it. Nor does he explain how he filters for ET when he buys companies that have it.
Some how 197 companies appear to have it according to his EFT XT's portfolio. The top ten holdings amount to a mere 6% of the EFT's AUM...not very concentrated.
He personally (I assume Edelmen Financial) holds 75% of the EFT (down from 100% when he created it the ETF). I will assume it has been pedaled quite heavily to his "sheeple" (who I'm sure have heard of it).
I've heard enough, I'll pass.
In XT's short history (2 years) it appears less impressive than "Unexponential Technology" ETF, QQQ:
bigthink.com/think-tank/steven-kotlers-six-ds-of-exponential-entrepreneurship
https://ishares.com/us/literature/product-brief/ishares-exponential-technologies-etf-product-brief-en-us.pdf
Just some comments on your article:
The process of digitization does not create information, it codes information. You have to first have information to code it.
Information is digitized by first using analog input devices (keyboards, microphones, scanners, etc). These analog devices allow us as humans to digitize our information. So "digitization" is the process of analog data becoming digital data and the heart of this is the micro-processor.
edit: I'll agree with Old_Joe that more and more of this digitizing is done without human input. For me, passing a driverless truck on the (Florida, Ohio, Penn turnpike etc) sometime this year will feel like seeing a headless horsemen.
competition-heats-up-in-race-to-put-self-driving-trucks-on-the-road/
The micro-processor stores (forever) and processes (tirelessly) digital information in a multitude of ways and it truly is on an exponential technology journey. Its capacity to store and process more and more information into smaller and smaller spaces and do this at faster and faster speeds is truly mind blowing. No less mind blowing than when the first digital processor and its controllers (of Electro-Mechanical devices) output audible sound (to speakers), written word (to printers), and, as the article alluded to, CAD drawings into 3D printed models.
Our car, home, and work place will soon have the same digitization as our cell phone.
More and more of us are swept up as consumers of this digital world and access is not free when these devices overwhelm our privacy and influence our decision making.
Couples who have lived together for a very long time finish each others sentences (and thoughts) and we think its cute. My concern is that with all of this digitization, these seemingly free apps observes us...learns our ways... and before we know it they are finishing our thoughts quite possibly influence they way we think.
I call it front running, but instead of front running stocks its people's thoughts and actions.
I guess this type of thinking is a bit 1984 of me, but I think...or do I?
@bee- Well, yes, to a point. However, these days the analog-to-digital process is so automatic and interwoven that much of it it is created digitally for all practical purposes. For example, it's technically true that all of the information available as an output from a vehicle computer was detected by analog sensors, processed by the computer, and made available as a digital output. Actually, some of those sensors self-contain the A/D conversion as an integrated circuit, so the sensor output is actually digital.
Before digitization some of those vehicle status indicators were available as direct human-read analog info: the speedometer, engine rpm, oil pressure, water temp, and so forth. But there is infinitely more vehicle performance data now available, thanks to digitization, most of which would not be directly actionable by humans in any case.
If it's already that complex for just a regular vehicle, imagine what's going on in aircraft, manufacturing, space operations, etc.
Why a toaster needs to be part of this information universe though is frankly beyond me.
OJ
Thanks for commenting.
I added a note to my 1st post and it got me thinking about you out in SF...remember the movie Duel? I think it's time for a remake of this classic with an autonomous truck.
Have a good one!