The most interesting corner of this topic, to me, is decompilation. The fact that AI can now reverse-engineer digital IP makes a whole segment of entertainment far less protected from competition than it used to be.
Real-life experiences are the antithesis of digital. Even if you have the blueprints to the Eiffel Tower, it would still cost billions and demand a sophisticated coordination of expertise to construct another.
Still, like everything else, experiences rooted in something tangible also compete for attention among a finite number of people. And, if I had to guess, the Pareto principle probably applies to experiences the same way it does to most creative works. A concentrated pool pulls in the vast majority of the attendance and the dollars, while a long tail fights over what's left.
For investors, that split is worth understanding.
Which is where scarcity gets interesting. Whether it is a one-of-a-kind icon, a structure that is hugely expensive to rebuild, or a place in nature. Now that the digital substitutes are themselves being disrupted, that physical scarcity might be a competitive barrier worth taking more seriously.
That's what this week's Market Insights digs into. What's genuinely scarce, and what companies are behind it
Sincerely,
Mitchell Lawler, Senior Investment Editor
