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.
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Mitch Joel Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.