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:
- Mobygratis. “Contrary to Eminem‘s opinion, lots of people listen to Moby. He was the first artist to license every track on an album to films (Play, 1999.) He’s also prolific: Mobygratis is a set of 500 tracks that are free for anyone to use in any way they want (provided that isn’t ‘to advertise right-wing politics or causes’ or ‘promote meat, dairy, or other animal products.’ This one is for you, Hugh, who’s dabbled in license-free audio in the past.” (Alistair for Hugh).
- Eminem – Lose Yourself (Sung By 331 Movies!) – The Usual Suspect – YouTube. “Speaking of Mr. Mathers, here’s a rendition of his classic ‘Lose Yourself‘, with the words replaced by brief clips from films throughout the year. This kind of thing gets easier as we’re able to parse the corpus of all media for words, videos, and images – but it’s still the kind of thing I believe the Internet is for.” (Alistair for Mitch).
- Concept Borrowed From Video Games Leads To Fusion Energy Breakthrough – Alex Newhouse – Gamespot. “I wonder what the world actually looks like with free energy? I imagine we’ll find other things to fight about, but…” (Hugh for Alistair).
- Eat Your AI Slop Or China Wins – Robert Bellafiore – The New Atlantis. “If you’ve actually done some real work/projects with AI you know how amazingly powerful a tool it is, and how delightful (and sometimes frustrating) it is to work with. At least that’s been my experience, and so I am mostly a big booster about all the good that AI can bring. But my God the inferno of bad that might come too, China or no China, is big, really big. Throw in a global rival to the West, shake it up with a bit of internal collapse, and values I still hold dear sure seem in danger.” (Hugh for Mitch).
- How The Light Gets Out – Michael Graziano – Aeon. “If you think AI is impressive, spend more time trying to understand how (and why) our brains work the way they do. It’s astonishing. Why do we believe in ghosts? How does consciousness work? How do our neurons create our consciousness… and our attention? Is awareness a computational process rather than some magical emergence? If it is, does this explain things like out-of-body experiences? This one is a real noodle boiler, so strap in and get ready for the rollercoaster that is your brain beyond its biology… And, yes, AI ain’t got nothing on us…” (Mitch for Alistair).
- Why Does Every Commercial For A.I. Think You’re a Moron? – Ismail Muhammad – The New York Times. “For the people who use artificial intelligence in their day-to-day work, it’s hard to imagine going back to a time when you wouldn’t use it. What percentage of the population does that impact? What does that mean for the future of work? These are all of the questions that many of us are philosophizing and debating constantly in spaces like this. This journalist points out a humorous and somewhat dystopian reality that I had not thought about. When these artificial intelligence companies advertise for their products, they are typically portraying the users as clueless and overwhelmed people who need to rely on technology for the most basic of information. The types of things you would typically have a conversation with a friend or peer about. The subtle promise in the advertising suggests that artificial intelligence’s killer app is its ability to fill in the gap between human interaction and understanding. But what does that say about all this loneliness and isolation that we’re all experiencing, when we don’t engage with one another anymore? While I don’t think we should use these advertisements as the proverbial canary in the coal mine, it might be interesting to read this article and think about the genuine human interactions we actually want to maintain in a world where artificial intelligence might be so quick to replace them.” (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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