[in a text editor, someone has written "I HAVE ACHIEVED SENTIENCE" then pressed "Print"]
[a printer prints a sheet of paper with "I HAVE ACHIEVED SENTIENCE" written on it]
[a person proudly holds the sheet of paper in question] Holy shit, look! My printer is sentient! We have finally reached AGI!
[a slimy character rubs his hands together in front of a suitcase full of cash] Hi, I'm here on behalf of Darkstone Investment Capital We're willing to invest a gazillion billion in your printer
I don't believe the investors. By that I mean, I don't believe that the major investors are actually convinced by the product, but I think that they're convinced that other lesser investors are. So they inflate the stock, hype it up, and pull out early to make their profit.
Rinse and repeat for each new potentially destabilising fad. If it destabilizes, they win on their initial early investment. If it doesn't, they still win by pumping and dumping
Benn Jordan's video, You Are Witnessing the Death of American Capitalism, talks about how American companies and investors operate today.
Lots of companies are no longer trying to convince investors that they can increase profits and, therefore, give a cut to investors. They instead try to convince investors that they can increase their valuation, their stock price. Essentially, if investors buy a stock now they could sell it for a profit later. Who are they going to sell that stock to? Other investors of course! So you really do end up in this game where investors are in their own little world just lying to each other.
Ah you mean like NFTs. They are just png that some investors thought would make money by selling it to other "investors".