Navigating hurdles in short term with long-term value models
Long-standing environmental, social and governance trends affect the stability of markets
Author and investor Ray Kurzweil in his book entitled The Singularity is Near talks about a point in the not-too-distant future when machine technology merges with, and enhances, human capabilities. The implication of this for our daily existence is open for debate, but what is less debatable are his observations about the long-term trend towards increasing mechanisation and the exponential growth in computing power. This trend is observable today in the field of robotics. For example, the payback time for an industrial robotic arm has decreased from 5.3 years to 1.5 years over the period 2010–16. There has been a rapid increase in technological sophistication and functionality. Between 2009 and 2015, the Republic of Korea doubled its robot density from 231 to 531 (measured as the number of industrial robots per 10,000 employees). This trend is mirrored in other Asian countries as well as in Europe, with the International Federation of Robotics indicating that by 2019, more than 1.4...
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