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:

• Mitchell And Webb And The Death Of The Sketch Show – Stubagful- YouTube. “I really, really wanted to like the return of Mitchell And Webb. Their comedy was great, giving us classic lines like ‘are we the baddies?’ And when Kids In The Hall reunited, they leaned into their age and shifting norms. But Mitchell And Webb Are Not Helping doesn’t ring true. As this video points out, maybe that’s not their fault.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• Steven Pinker On Coordination, Common Knowledge, And The Retreat Of Liberal Enlightenment – Conversations With Tyler. “Steven Pinker has a new book out about common knowledge (When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows…: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life). It dives deeper into a concept we discuss in Just Evil Enough: That the world doesn’t change when everyone knows something, but instead, when everyone knows that everyone knows something. It’s one of the ideas that has stuck with me the most as I’ve been trying to rethink marketing for the attention age, and this discussion with Tyler Cowen is worth your time.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• “On The Nature Of Things”: Lucretius’ Secrets Of The Universe – Rachel Ashcroft – The Collector. “Both my links today deal with ancient history. My daughter is studying the renaissance in school, a time period I don’t know much about, so, I did some of my own research. Among other gems, I discovered Lucretius, who I guess I should know, but didn’t. Lucretius was a Roman philosopher who penned in 50BCE ‘On the Nature of Things’, (not the David Suzuki show!). The text was lost for centuries, rediscovered by Poggio Bracciolini in 1417, and became one of the philosophical bases of the modern world. Lucretius presaged, among other things: atomic theory, natural selection, philosophical materialism, the many-worlds theory of quantum physics, and a theory of mind.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention – Thinking With Mitch Joel. “To mark our 800th (!!!!) Six Links post (rain or shine every week for 15 years!), I dug out what I believe was the first such post, from July 10, 2010. Interesting: only two of the 6 links are still alive (happy to see the page from 1995 is still there). And: it’s fascinating that the three of us could easily have posted these same links today, about climate change, education, quantum physics, leadership, information and the impact of digital on society.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• Reflections Of Life – YouTube. “For over 15 years and exactly 800 weeks, I have bothered and nudged both Alistair and Hugh every single week to send me two links. One link that they think I would like, and one link that they think the other person might like. For a total of 6 links every week. It’s a small and simple practice that does several things, but mostly it forces me to look at my news feed for someone else. It forces me to look at my news with a filter of what the other two might be inspired by. I can’t tell you how much that shifts your perspective when you look at the constant and non-stop flowing feeds. It becomes less personal and much more inspirational. I’m looking for a gem or two to make somebody else’s day brighter. And while I’m hopeful that the end state are six different and varied pieces of content that introduce you to new ways of thinking and the people who are creating it. In fact, as I reflect, it has profoundly shifted and helped me maintain some sanity in the chaos that is our current world. In the spirit of that, I decided this week to share not one piece of content with each of you, but an entire YouTube channel that has also shifted my perspective. In a world of speed, vertical video, hot takes and minor substance, I have actually been using YouTube to go very deep and very long. I have also used the channel to calm myself down, as a place to really slow things down. This channel might help you see the world differently from people who have lived more and needed less. I do my best to watch one or two of these every week to remind myself that the hustle might feel real during the day, but will probably wind up being meaningless as the years go on. I hope this gives you the same space and time and meditative qualities it has given me…” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Jazz Horizon – YouTube. “There are a lot of channels like this on YouTube, and I’m not saying that this is the best one. It just happens to be the one that I click on the most. I am a massive fan and student of Jazz. This is by no means quality or skill. In fact, this could very well be AI-generated music, and I wouldn’t even care (and, sure, I could easily just click on a playlist that I curated with better quality music in the same genre). Still, I will admit that just scrolling through the images for these videos, I am captivated… and would like to travel to exactly wherever these computer generated images are from. Whether it’s seasonal or the music having a little bit of rain playing in the background, I find it extremely soothing to have this running on my iPad all day non-stop at the office in the background. Maybe it’s just a notch above Muzak. I don’t really care. It calms me down and it soothes me, and I really do enjoy these images of cafes. To the point where I often imagine who I would like to take there and what kind of conversation I would like to have, or if I’d like to go there alone and what I might read while sipping on a cappuccino without a care in the world. Again, this won’t be for everyone, But it’s a simple way to use platforms like YouTube to slow down and spend some time reflecting. I’ll warn you that once you watch one or two of these, your algorithm will shift, and you will see many, many more. Some of them are ridiculously bad and some of them are a notch above good. I’m also fascinated by the idea that some creator somewhere is probably making a significant amount of money by simply streaming music to the sound of one image. I’m guessing nobody at YouTube figured this would be a business model… Oh, and a minor correction to Hugh’s lovng post about about our little link exchanges over the years: I believe this is the first one.” (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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