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 (Just Evil Enough, 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:

• Will The Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence? – D. Graham Burnett – The New Yorker. “A great, long-form piece on how AI is changing teaching and the liberal arts. While the tech is widely banned on campuses – and students are terrified of accidentally using it in assignments – this teacher set students a task of debating with an AI and reporting back. The results were surprising.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• The Lebowski Theorem Of Machine Superintelligence – Jaaon Kottke. “Some days, I’m mad at myself for posting links about AI. Other days, I think it might be the defining topic of the century, and perhaps our species, and capitulate. Today’s a capitulation day, but at least it’s one that includes The Dude. The inimitable Jason Kottke quotes Joscha Back: ‘No superintelligent AI is going to bother with a task that is harder than hacking its reward function.'” (Alistair for Mitch).
• Experts Alarmed By China’s Enormous Army Of Robots – Joe Wilkins – Futurism. “Starting in 2015 China has pursued an industrial policy of developing industrial robotics (in part to address demographic problems). In 2022-23 China installed half the global industrial robots deployment, with ~276,000 robots. More, surely in 2024 and 2025. Chinese products will get cheaper as the US tries to rebuild its human factory workforce.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• The Eternal Thrift Store – Paul Ford – Aboard. “On the messy world of software, AI and the chaos coming down the pipes for us all.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• The Death Of “I Don’t Know” – John Nosta – Psychology Today. “There’s something romantic and nostalgic in this article. The kind of writing that might both make you worried about our future and put human thinking on a pedastal. Ultimately, I don’t agree with this argument. ‘I don’t know’ isn’t dying… it’s evolving. In a world saturated with information and accelerated by AI, the real result of AI isn’t in people not knowing anything anymore, it’s in knowing how to ask better questions. Curiosity isn’t about withholding answers – it’s about using tools (yes, even chatbots) to go deeper, faster. The romanticism of not knowing might feel noble, but it risks glorifying intellectual paralysis. Today, inquiry has a partner, not a replacement. The smartest people aren’t avoiding AI or using it to do the work –  they’re using it as cognitive scaffolding. It’s not the death of ‘I don’t know.’ It’s the birth of ‘What if?’ and ‘What else?’.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Reading Books Is Not Just A Pleasure: It Helps Our Minds To Heal – Peter Leyland – Psyche. “Books don’t just teach us… they tend to us. Peter Leyland’s essay makes a beautifully quiet case for something I’ve always believed: that reading is more than escapism, it’s restoration. Not every page heals, but the right words at the right moment? That’s soul-level triage. Still, let’s not romanticize the act too much… reading isn’t a substitute for therapy, but it is a form of self-leadership. It slows the scroll, sharpens the mind, and reintroduces nuance in a world hooked on hot takes. Attention is currency and algorithms dictate what we see, so choosing to read… to sit with complexity, contradiction, and craft… is a small act of rebellion (to me). So yes, books help us heal… ” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

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