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Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #470

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 (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, 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:

What Defenders and Critics Get Wrong about the ‘Marketplace of Ideas’ – Quillette. “So free, open discussion is supposed to fix everything. The ‘town square’ should suss out charlatans, and let the best ideas rise to the top. At least, that’s the idea underpinning many of the world’s liberal democracies. But as Jason Stanley observes, there are two kinds of discourse: ‘Descriptive speech’ which ‘occurs when words are communicated precisely in their logical or semantic sense.’ On the other hand, non-descriptive speech is rhetorical, ‘not used simply, or even chiefly, to convey information but to elicit emotion.’ This goes a long way to explaining the challenges of free speech in the Internet era, which has all the downsides of oral interaction without many of the upsides.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think – The Atlantic. “This isn’t an article on automation, or AI, or the usual techno-utopian stuff I share with you two weekly. It’s a missive on aging, with some deep thoughts, good science, a resignation, and even a legit guru. I found it spiritual, moving, and worth pondering as I creep up on my later years.” (Alistair for Mitch).
Scientists, Stop Thinking Explaining Science Will Fix Things – Slate. “Turns out nobody wants to know.” (Hugh for Alistair).
The Rise of Junk Science – The Walrus. “Letting anyone publish has its downsides, apparently!” (Hugh for Mitch).
A Philosopher on Brain Rest – The New York Times. “What happens when a philosopher gets an (unwanted) whack on the side of the head? Here is a fascinating piece on figuring out who you are, when that’s your job but your brain is no longer complying the way it used to. Oh, and wear a helmet… always.” (Mitch for Alistair).
The Wild Ride at Babe.Net – The Cut. “The darlings of new media. Multi-million (sometimes ‘billion’) dollar valuations. All of the brand money is pouring in their direction. But, what is actually going on the behind the scenes when these new media platforms start growing by leaps and bounds? This is a compelling story and a cautionary tale. As my old martial arts instructor used to say: experience is something you get shortly after you need it. What a wild ride, indeed…” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

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.