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:
- Dittemore’s Law – Casey Handmer. “An absolutely scathing take on NASA, bureaucracy, and space exploration. But one you can’t stop reading.” (Alistair for Hugh).
- Tim Minchin’s Full Speech At The Art Of Tax Reform Summit 2025 – Tim Minchin – YouTube. “Once again for the cheap seats: Tim Minchin is an absolute genius. Here’s his paeon to the arts, complete with song.” (Alistair for Mitch).
- One Half A Manifesto – Jaron Lanier – Edge. “Jaron Lanier’s 25-year old essay on the cult of ‘cybernetic totalism’. Read the comments.” (Hugh for Alistair).
- The Loop: How American Profits Built Chinese Power – Howard Yu – One Inch Ahead. “How the American obsession with short term profit and scalability locked in with China’s obsession with sovereignty, scale and employment, to transfer American know-how into what looks to be Chinese dominance. Apple taught China impossible precision, Tesla taught them impossible speed. And they’ve scaled this with sovereignty and local gdp growth as the measure of success. Strange decades ahead.” (Hugh for Mitch).
- They Fell In Love With A.I. Chatbots – And Found Something Real – Coralie Kraft – The New York Times. “Some people form deep, loving relationships with AI chatbots during hard times in their lives. These AI companions provide comfort, support and reduce loneliness in ways real people sometimes cannot. While some worry about these bonds, others find them healing and meaningful. It’s a wild story when you really start to unpack both what is happening and what the subtext is as well. First, companionship is one of the top uses for these chatbots (not getting it to write your work-related materials). Second, is this cheating? Would this type of ‘relationship’ be different if a husband struggling with his relationship with his wife had these types of conversation with another female? Third, we have to have long and serious conversations about both the ethics happening in the here and now, and what to do if the advice, feedback and conversation turns. I believe too many people will read the headline, scoff and dismiss this (and these people)… I think there’s something much deeper happening here…” (Mitch for Alistair).
- The Spiritual Cost Of The Digital Age – Paul Kingsnorth – The Free Press. “I stumbled onto this podcast while on my morning walk and had no idea what to expect. As the conversation went on, I found myself marveling at the thinking that Paul Kingsnorth was bringing forward, and more importantly, wondering what an amazing world we live in where I can spend this many decades in the space that I’m in and still discover new voices I had never heard of. It’s such a plesant surprise. I rushed to buy his new book, Against The Machine – On The Unmaking Of Humanity, and have not been able to get this conversation out of my head. Kingsnorth argues modern technology and modernity hollow out deep meaning and spiritual life. He says this creates a crisis where old religious and cultural answers no longer fit. We must reconsider how we find connection, purpose and belonging. I don’t believe I’ve heard the woes of the world framed this way… and it has given me pause.” (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on X, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
>
Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.