Reflections from the Kiatt Foundation
With over twenty years of experience managing his family office and investing in the most disruptive science and technology on the planet, Manuel Fuertes is launching a foundation to promote reflection in the field of investment. The goal is to analyze the impact of capital on science and technology, as well as the consequences of unconsciously fostering progress that builds a denatured, dehumanized, “despiritualized,” and entirely synthetic world.
Why is it necessary to reflect on the role of capital in the future of society?
From the Industrial Revolution, with its steam engines and looms, to today’s advancements in Artificial Intelligence, technology has been deeply embedded in our progress. It has radically transformed society and reshaped humanity’s role. Progress has made significant impacts in certain areas of science, opening doors that humanity had not unlocked for thousands of years—for instance, doubling life expectancy in just the last century.
However, this progress has turned us away from rural life, disconnecting us from nature, biology, and our responsibilities toward the planet, ourselves, and those around us. We now live in an increasingly technological, synthetic, and denaturalized world, accelerating challenges to the very biological essence of humanity and risking its dignity.
The unstoppable advancements we are immersed in cast a long shadow. Technology now permeates every aspect of life. Mobile phones, for example, collect massive amounts of data about us, digitizing our personalities and exposing them to the control of companies, governments, or Artificial Intelligence systems that could influence our opinions, consumption habits, or even our most intimate beliefs. This is an exciting moment, but we cannot ignore that progress is just one side of the coin, accompanied by great challenges.
Is technology harmful to society?
Absolutely not. Without research, science, and technology, society would not have developed. However, we must carefully analyze how we use this technology. A knife used for cooking has a very different impact than a knife used to harm someone. There is also responsibility in who funds access to such tools. For example, selling knives to chefs has a different impact than distributing them at a school playground.
In recent years, we’ve seen countless technological innovations hit the market, many of which we adopt before we’re ready—not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, culturally, and spiritually. Consider these figures: more than 1 in every 100 deaths today is by suicide, and according to the WHO, around 280 million people worldwide suffer from depression. We also face one of our time’s greatest silent pandemics: loneliness.
What are the consequences of compulsive technology use?
Intensive, unregulated use of technology presents significant challenges for society. Have you ever passed a school and noticed how teenagers no longer interact with each other? They are entirely absorbed by their phones, video games, and social media. This use of technology, coupled with the lack of regulation regarding data acquisition, is digitizing young people’s personalities, making them more vulnerable and diminishing their critical thinking skills.
In less than 20 years, I am convinced a significant part of the population will live partially or entirely within a synthetic digital world managed by Artificial Intelligence. Many already spend their commutes or time in queues immersed in a digital bubble—just look up from your phone and observe the people around you.
Only an elite few will possess the judgment not to be influenced or manipulated. They will delve deeply enough to seek the truth in critical matters.
What can we do in this context?
We can’t slow down these advances, which save lives and lift people out of poverty. We must learn to reflect, discern, limit, regulate, and seek the truth, even if it takes more effort than watching a 30-second video.
After more than two decades investing in the most brilliant minds of our century, partnering with renowned technological entrepreneurs, and supporting daring scientific discoveries, I have realized that the market only measures the positive impacts of investments. We fail to conduct complex analyses that consider long-term net impacts.
In this model of funding everything, collective inertia becomes increasingly strong, rapid, and automated. Trends based on perception are rewarded, even if they lack intellectual rigor or scientific validity. Individualistic strategies often prevail over the common good.
In response to these challenges, the Kiatt Foundation represents a natural evolution of our family office and the financial sector. We aim to create a project that fosters alternative investment models, prioritizing truly conscious and responsible financing. This approach seeks to align healthy scientific and technological development with the financial industry’s goals. There’s a significant need for investment in many areas of science, and we aim to build a broader investor community with greater involvement and long-term vision.
In our view, capital needs deeper, more scientific, and analytical reflection if we want to leave a legacy where technology fosters genuine progress across all dimensions of humanity.
