Nikola Tesla’s biographer, a guy named Thomas Commerford Martin, once observed something astonishing:

Tesla's ability to "build" and "run" his inventions in his imagination was so precise they required little adjustment once built.

For the longest time, I thought this was an exaggeration.

Lore. A myth.

Then, I looked deeper into it.

Turns out, Tesla himself explained:

"When I get an idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements, and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance."

This ability astonished his peers.

Even Mark Twain marveled at how Tesla sprang from concept to finished product with minimal mediate steps.

Now…

Imagine if everyone had that power? What if we could prototype anything and know if it will work before lifting a single solitary screw? Imagine how much time and resources that would save us.

Imagine how fast we would innovate -- how rapidly every industry on Earth would change.

Drumroll please…

At some point -- maybe sooner than even I think -- everyone will have that power. And very few people are talking about it right now.

Two words you’re no doubt going to hear a lot in the near future: digital twins.

Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical objects where ideas can be tested, refined, and perfected before ever touching reality.

Let’s talk about what they are, what they mean, why they’re the endgame for AI agents…

And what they have to do with the most exciting, terrifying, and ambitious thing happening on Earth right now.

Digital Twins Are Here

Look, I live in Podunksville.

So when someone at the Thanksgiving table mentions their healthcare company is using digital twins to keep inventory, track maintenance, and run simulations…

Well, I start to get a funny feeling that something big is happening and not enough people are talking about it.

Thing is, digital twins aren’t coming.

They’re HERE.

Car manufacturers use them to model crash tests, saving millions in physical prototypes. Energy companies optimize wind farms by simulating airflow over digital replicas of turbines. Cities model traffic flows, reducing congestion before the first light turns green. The NFL uses digital twins for NFL players to better predict and prevent player injury.

BUT…

That’s all small potatoes compared to what’s approaching.

What if a digital twin isn’t just a model of a car, a building, or even a city? What if it’s the entire planet?

I’m talking about a 1:1 replica of Earth… down to every field, forest, and meadow.

Sound crazy? Well, it’s happening.

And AI is supercharging it into existence.

The Next Space Race

Before I get into who’s already building this digital twin of Earth (you’re going to be surprised), let’s talk about how big of a deal this is.

Remember how the Soviets launched Sputnik, and suddenly the U.S. realized, “We can’t fall behind”?

That’s where I think we’ll be soon with Earth’s digital twin.

The stakes are enormous, and here’s why: 

Whoever controls the most accurate AI-integrated digital twin of Earth controls the ultimate sandbox for decision-making.

The combination of high-resolution satellite data, real-time IoT inputs, and AI analysis would give the owner a massive strategic advantage.

Imagine: 

- Simulating millions of “Black Swan” disasters and predicting responses.

- Being able to scout enemy terrain down to the sun’s reflection off a neighbor’s window.

- Testing the impacts of a new policy on global economies in real-time. 

- Running a thousand autonomous drone strategies overnight and knowing which one will succeed with the lowest probability of collateral damage.

It’s the supreme weapon—not of destruction, but of anticipation. 

If you can simulate reality faster than anyone else, you don’t just react to events.

You shape them. 

Who’s Building it?

This is why, behind the scenes, countries and companies are racing to build Earth’s digital twin.

NVIDIA Earth-2 is leveraging AI supercomputers to create a digital replica of Earth.

This collaborative effort, with companies like Lockheed Martin and NOAA, focus on “predicting weather patterns” and “simulating wildfires”. (Uh-huh.)

While I don’t doubt they’re using it for that…

It’s going to be used for a lot more than that.

Lockheed Martin research scientist Lynn Montgomery explained it this way: “It’s going to be kind of a Google Earth-looking product, but it’s going to have all of these observations coming in at almost a real-time basis.”

“This digital twin of Earth,” said Jensen Huang, “is probably one of the most ambitious projects the world’s undertaken.”

Meanwhile, there are also projects like NASA Earth System Digital Twins (ESDT) and the European Commission’s Destination Earth (DestinE).

These also aim to create interactive digital replicas for “advanced climate monitoring”.

(Uh-huh.)

The U.S. Army has already been working on something similar for years to simulate warzones.

A company called 51 World showed what’s possible when they created a digital twin of Shanghai.

Microsoft is in this game, too… literally.

They’ve been working on a digital twin under the guise of building their “Flight Simulator” program.

And, finally, Fujitsu is building a digital twin of the oceans.

There are a LOT more examples.

But here’s where all of this is going…

Where the Wild Things Live

Right now, AI lives in our text boxes, our spreadsheets, and our servers. These agents are smart—but they’re limited.

Their worlds are flat. Digital. Abstract.

In the future, AI agents will inhabit this twin Earth.

They’ll fly cars, test delivery drones, optimize city grids, simulate economies, and build. They’ll do it in real time, at scale, on a digital Earth that mirrors our own.

They’ll collaborate with each other, learn from simulations, and then adapt those lessons to our real world.

Imagine how they could:

1. Design Better Cities: AI agents could simulate thousands of variations for a city’s layout—testing traffic flow, energy efficiency, and livability—before a single brick is laid.
2. Simulate Global Economies: AI agents could simulate supply chains, trade routes, and policy changes to optimize resource distribution.
3. Collaborate with Us: These agents wouldn’t just operate in isolation. They’d work alongside us—exploring this prototyping world as our copilots, advisors, and builders.

Imagine the breakthroughs when AI can see, touch, and move through a realistic twin of our world.

It becomes a sandbox for every idea.

The ultimate testing ground.

A New World Order

The optimistic scenario is that Earth 2.0 ends up decentralized: an ownerless, autonomous network on top of which we can build, play, simulate, and imagine.

Governance would be messy, but it would be better than the alternative.

BUT

Let’s not sugarcoat this. 

The country or corporation that builds the most detailed, functional digital twin becomes the de facto global operating system. 

But, the thing is, I don’t think we’ll have just one digital twin. I think we’ll have hundreds, maybe thousands. Every country is going to want their own.

Whatever the case…

This, I believe, is the endgame for AI agents -- where it’s all leading.

It’s exciting. It’s terrifying. It’s ambitious.

And the mere knowledge of this gives you a roadmap on the best investment opportunities of the next decade-plus.