Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #407

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Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for InterestingTilt the WindmillHBS, chair of StrataStartupfestPandemonio, and ResolveTO, Author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see”.

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another: 

  • Wild Wild Country: Cult Doc Directors Answers All Your Burning Questions – Vanity Fair. “I don’t usually binge-watch Netflix. But when I do stay up until 5 am, it’s for something like Wild Wild Country. The documentary kept me swinging between sympathy and outrage. The quality of interviews and found footage is astonishing. And it calls into profile some serious questions at the forefront of politics: Should a foreign cult be brandishing guns? What happens when immigrants outnumber locals? How far does freedom of religion extend? If you haven’t watched it yet, do so. Then read this and have your remaining questions answered as you wonder aloud, ‘how had I not heard of this?'” (Alistair for Hugh).
  • The Mind-Expanding Ideas of Andy Clark – The New Yorker. “Are the tools we use to think part of the mind itself? And if so, does that mean tech companies are pushing mind updates? These notions might have seemed weird a decade ago, but today they’re almost pedestrian. Fascinating look at Andy Clark‘s philosophical speculations.” (Alistair for Mitch).
  • Woman Awarded $6.5 Million In Revenge Porn Case – CNN. “It seems amazing that governments are finding it hard to make good revenge porn laws (my proposal: ‘If you post a photograph or video of someone naked, without their explicit consent, then you go to jail.’). I don’t know anything about law, and I have no doubt that things are complex (Free speech? Chilling effects? I don’t know). In this case, an ex-lover posted naked images and videos online without consent… and the woman had to copyright her breasts as part of her legal action. Which is nuts. Come on, legal system, you can do better.” (Hugh for Alistair).
  • True podcast love, in all of us command: This is how Canada listens to podcasts – NiemanLab. Nieman Lab has a (new?) newsletter about podcasts, Hot Pod, that is chock-a-block full of interesting data and news about the web-based media format nearest and dearest to my heart: podcasts. Latest edition has some data about Canada.” (Hugh for Mitch).
  • The Era of Fake Videos Begins – The Atlantic.”This is some super scary stuff… and you will be fooled. I’m just getting back from my annual personal field trip to the TED conference in Vancouver, and this topic was demonstrated live and in my face. If you can get a room filled with tech folks, scientists, entrepreneurs and the most cynical of Venture Capitalists to collectively have their jaws drop, you know it’s some serious stuff. Oh, technology, what have you done!” (Mitch for Alistair). 
  • How we need to remake the Internet – Jaron Lanier – TED. “Here’s one of the talks that I enjoyed the most at this year’s TED conference. I’m torn. I was so hopeful, like Jaron Lanier, about how technology could help us connect, share and build together. With that, I’m also becoming quite angry at how much of it is used to truly manipulate people. And, that’s saying something when you consider that I am a professional marketer. Still, Jaron makes some great points in this TED Talk. This is an idea worth spreading…” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.