Is there one link, story or idea that stopped you this week… and made you think, “someone else needs to see this”?

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 made a simple pact years ago. Once a week, each of us would share one link with the others… something we genuinely believed the other two had to see. No trend-hunting… no performance. Just six ideas exchanged with intent. What started as a small ritual between curious friends became Six Links That Make You Think.

These are the six links we passed to one another this week… take your time with them…

• The Ancient Future At The End Of History – Benjamin Life – OmniHarmonic. “Yikes! I almost didn’t use this link because it has many of the hallmarks of AI writing (‘But naming the basin is not the same as living there’, ‘It names a structural fact.’) But the core material is solid, and summarizes a lot of what I’ve been feeling lately: For much of human history, we’ve had two sides fighting for power, and they are ‘the system’, which holds until a third destabilizes it. But what if the current system is so good at absorbing and monetizing revolutionaries that it’s immune to instability? His hopeful conclusion is a system that optimizes for well-being instead of growth; as a student of evolution, I remain unconvinced.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• We Beat Stephen Miller In Court – Renee DiResta – Agents Of Influence. “Back in 2020, researchers analyzed millions of tweets to understand the spread of false information related to vaccines and elections, sometimes sharing their findings with the platforms on which they appeared. One of the researchers, Renée DiResta, wrote a book about the invisible impact of social media called, Invisible Rulers. It’s a great book—and near the end, turns into a chronicling of a kangaroo court. Many US lawmakers claimed that somehow the work by the Stanford Observatory wasn’t just research, but actively tried to swing the election. The lawsuit called the work ‘probably the largest mass-surveillance and mass-censorship program in American history’. A book about conspiracy theories was overtaken by a conspiracy of its own, which would have been comical had Renée and her colleagues not been hauled in front of Congress and sued in multiple states. Half a decade later, to far less fanfare, a federal court found no evidence that any of these projects focused on manipulation or censorship—but not before the research group shut down, having spent millions in legal defense.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• Earth’s Organisms Developed Via Evolution. Some Theorists Wonder: What If The Entire Cosmos Did, Too? – Eli Stark-Elster – Smithsonian Magazine. “Evolution, biology, theoretical physics, cosmology, plus a poet from Minecraft, wonder: could the universe have evolved in the same way that biological entities have?” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Thucydides The Perspicacious – David Polansky – Daniel Schillinger – Aeon. “If ever there was a time to read Thucydides, now is it. The great Greek historian of great power conflict has always had much to teach us, not least about our endless and repeating ability to fool ourselves. Sparta, Athens and Melos all justified their actions; all met with some version of calamity. There’s a gap between what these great powers said and thought about themselves, and what was actually driving them, and therein (maybe) lay their undoing.” (Hugh for Mitch). 
• Without A Theory Of Intelligence – Kevin Kelly. “An AI take on the old adage ‘we don’t know what we don’t know’. For example, science advanced through new tools that reveal hidden worlds, like microscopes and telescopes. If we follow that logic, AI is a powerful new tool that should help us understand and build different kinds of ‘minds’. Deep and heady stuff. Kevin recommmends creating a theory of intelligence tha will guide us in making smarter AI and understanding human thought better than ever before… which will lead us to questions and ideas we can’t even fathom in this moment… wow… and yikes!” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Consider The AI Tear Down – Seth Godin. “I’ve read a few articles lately from known ‘thought leaders’ recommending that the best way to use AI is to have it give you critical perspectives on assumptions that you’re making (otherwise you’re just using it to get answers and to replace yourself). One of those assumptions would have to be that you understand the filter and the context by which the AI is giving you criticism. Seth shows you just how opaque and strange that can be. The machine will give what you ask of it. Criticism? Here you go. Compliments? Here you go. Take a read, and let me know if either direction that the AI generated sways your opinion or perspective. It’s an interesting way to test exactly what we are trying to get out of systems like this.” (Mitch for Hugh).

If one of these sticks with you, pass it on… and let us know what earned your attention this week…

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