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 Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) 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:

• The Continuity of Splines – Freya Holmer – YouTube. “This is a long, mesmerising video about what a ‘smooth path’ means. That may seem esoteric — but every vertex in a 3D model, and every edge on every character, is a line defined by math, otherwise known as a Spline. Freya Holmér spent over a year going down a rabbithole of things like ‘recursively lerping’ and produced an incredible documentary, replete with gorgeous visualizations. I absolutely do not understand all this math, but seeing it turned into images makes me feel like I could, and gives me a sense of what’s going on, every millisecond, on billions of devices, all the time.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• The problem with Emotional Support Animals – Neuro Transmissions – YouTube. “There are 90 times more emotional support animals than there were a decade ago. People have squirrels and insects and peacocks. How did we get here, where do we draw the line, and why don’t we talk about this more? This is a pretty fascinating episode by Micah Caldwell, triggered by the fact that he’s often asked to write doctors’ notes authorizing an emotional support animal for his patients.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• Greek Mythology and Simulation Theory – The Blindboy Podcast. “You all know that I am a big listener of podcasts, and so when I find a new one I like, it makes me very happy. Well, I’ve found one I love recently. Throw in a heavy Irish (specifically Limerick) accent with those particularly Irish f-bombs, a punk rock and gentle anti-capitalist sensibility, a plastic bag, an interest in myth, nature, and science, and deeply personal revelations, and well, whatever that cocktail is…  it has me hooked. In this episode of The Blindboy Podcast, we explore the parallels between Zeus and Prometheus and AI development and Simulation Theory, as well as the difficulties of having your father die when you’re not even an adult and family car rides in Ireland in the 1970s.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• I Was Wrong About Trigger Warnings – The Atlantic. “There are a number of issues that highlight the fact that I am now an Old, and one of them is trigger warnings. I get the concept, and in context I will go along with them – where they are expected – but I can’t help shaking the feeling that there is something amiss with the concept of trigger warnings and the associated general approach to what I consider over-protectiveness of the minds of young adults. I hold these opinions lightly, and I’m open to having my mind changed. Feminist writer Jill Filipovic, perhaps one of the early advocates and users of trigger warnings, now wonders whether all these warnings are contributing to the decline of mental health among young women, and whether they might be a mistake.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• Shorts are on the rise. Is YouTube’s long-form content “dying out” as a result? – tubefilter. “Content is a funny thing. When we debate it, it’s often about the components that don’t correlate to whether or not it strikes a nerve with the consumer. You will often hear tropes like, ‘people don’t have long attention spans, and this is why TikTok is so popular,’ then why is the number one podcast, typically, several hours long per episode and multiple times a week? Or, why do people binge-watch any TV show (because, ultimately, you could argue that it’s just a 15 hour movie, or some such). This article argues that Shorts are cannibalizing YouTube and this poses a major problem for the platform. But, what about the quality and content of the video? Won’t people stick around for a great story? Aren’t the truly best videos not predicated on their length? ‘if those creators do make long-form videos, users aren’t checking them out anyway.’ I’m left wondering what this solves for? Maybe the answer is simply this: Now that YouTube has a different form of video content, it’s working as well? Or, something else I’ve said in the past: Everything is ‘with’ not ‘instead of’?” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Unhinged Conspiracies, AI Doppelgangers, and the Fractured Reality of Naomi Klein – Wired. “I’m a nerd for deep thinkers. I’m especially and fan (and super respectful) of those who dig deep, reflect and then bring it all home in a juicy book that might not be, exactly, in my wheelhouse… but it gives me pause. This is often the work of Naomi Klein. I don’t always agree with the political or social slants, but they make me think (and rethink) my previously held convictions. Klein is back with a new book, Doppelganger. It’s based (loosely) on her experience of being confused with Naomi Wolf, who has embraced Covid conspiracy theories. Within this interview, they go down several rabbit-holes from the spread of misinformation, why content around conspiracy theories are so captivating, the state of social media, AI, job loss, synthetic reality, and more. This is a good starting point for those who are not sure if her new book is for them. I’d recommend both this article and the book.” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

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