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Investing in the next generation of AI

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Collage of a man speaking, an electricity pylon, and the title "The Nightcrawler" on a graphic background, hinting at the integration of next-gen AI.
Adobe Stock / Tom Morgan / The Leading Edge
Key Takeaways
  • Main Story: AI is emerging as the 21st-century equivalent of electricity.
  • The Nightview Capital annual investment letter spotlights five rapidly-evolving areas of the economy where AI is poised to make a profound impact.
  • Also among this week’s stories: The value of attention, the current state of video games, and the blurred line between science and spirituality.
Sign up for The Nightcrawler Newsletter
A weekly collection of thought-provoking articles on tech, innovation, and long-term investing from Nightview Capital’s Eric Markowitz.
This is an installment of The Nightcrawler, a weekly collection of thought-provoking articles on tech, innovation, and long-term investing by Eric Markowitz of Nightview Capital. You can get articles like this one straight to your inbox every Friday evening by subscribing above. Follow him on X: @EricMarkowitz.

In our firm’s recent annual investment letter, we present a bold vision for the future: AI is emerging as the 21st-century equivalent of electricity. Just as electricity transformed every aspect of life — powering factories, homes, and vehicles — AI, we believe, will eventually weave itself into the fabric of modern society, touching nearly every facet of our daily lives.

The letter spotlights five rapidly-evolving areas of the economy, ranging from robotics to immersive real-world experiences, where AI is poised to make a profound impact. “Artificial intelligence, much like electricity in its early days, is transitioning from a series of impressive demonstrations to becoming a foundational pillar of modern business,” we write.

Key quote: “AI is already driving real-world breakthroughs in logistics, medicine, and education. It’s not just a tool for making processes faster or cheaper — it’s a force reimagining how industries function. Like the Industrial Revolution, this transformation is unfolding unevenly, with some areas advancing rapidly — while others lag behind. But the scope is undeniable, in our view. AI will fundamentally change how we think, create, and connect.”

The value of scarcity in an abundance economy

My friend John Candeto recently wrote a compelling essay about the increasing value of attention. “In a world of infinite content the price of attention ought to go up, and up, and up,” he writes.

He’s absolutely right. With more noise than ever, the real challenge isn’t just grabbing attention — it’s keeping it. That’s why curation and truly lasting content matter more than ever. Businesses (and creators) who focus on depth, trust, and quality will stand out. As AI-generated content floods the internet, the rarest and most valuable currency will be human insight, originality, and work that stands the test of time.

Key quote: “As the cost to create ‘noise’ approaches zero — think Generative A.I. publishing infinite content — the value of enduring content ought to rise. This is a version of the curation point, but for the content itself. It will become even more useful to directly seek out and consume enduring content because finding new enduring content will become increasingly difficult. This is the Lindy effect at work.”


The State of Video Gaming in 2025 – via Matthew Ball

Key quote: “‍220 slides covering why gaming soared from 2011-21 then suddenly stalled (no, not COVID), where growth is and isn’t, Black Hole Games, China’s global rise, the brutal effects of TikTok + IDFA, Steam, more.”

CES Field Report: Edge AI Might be the Future of Computing – via Nightview Capital

Key quote: “What’s more, this shift could alter where technology companies fall in the stack. In the future, the key differentiator may not be the sheer compute power available but where that compute happens — on centralized cloud servers or localized edge devices. This has the potential to redefine the roles of hardware, software, and platform companies in the tech ecosystem.”

Unlocking Mysteries: Aliens, Mystics, and Personal Transformation with Tom Morgan – via Bill Brewster

Key quote: “In this unconventional episode of The Business Brew, host Bill Brewster sits down with Tom Morgan for a deep dive into topics that blur the line between science and spirituality. From exploring the existence of non-human intelligence and its implications, to discussing personal transformative experiences facilitated by psychedelics, this episode is a fascinating journey through the unknown. Tom shares insights from his years of research and personal struggles, including a near-psychotic breakdown and a mystical experience that reshaped his life.”


From the archives:

Marketing Myopia – via Theodore Levitt (1959)

Key quote: “Every major industry was once a growth industry. But some that are now riding a wave of growth enthusiasm are very much in the shadow of decline. Others that are thought of as seasoned growth industries have actually stopped growing. In every case, the reason growth is threatened, slowed, or stopped is not because the market is saturated. It is because there has been a failure of management.”

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A weekly collection of thought-provoking articles on tech, innovation, and long-term investing from Nightview Capital’s Eric Markowitz.

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