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, 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: 

• Good Shepherds  – The Believer. “I’ve been reading a lot on AI, and emergent properties of complex systems, and chaos theory, lately. I think it explains much of what we’re going through as a society, part of a transition from analog to digital creatures. I’ve struggled to put these thoughts into sensible order. Turns out I needn’t have tried, because this stunningly good piece by Meghan O’Gieblyn does it beautifully. Several times while reading it, I found myself nearly yelling, ‘get out of my brain!’ Brilliant and thoughtful.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• Are These Effin’ Birds From Canada Fucking With American Democracy? – Reason. “I had not heard of Effin’ Birds. But as a proud Canadian, I approve this message.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• The Internet of Beefs – Ribbon Farm. “This was written in January 2020, before the somewhat crazy world went off the deep end, and woosh does it get at something: at how the web, and culture, are now driven by the Internet of Beefs (IoB), an Internet of perpetual conflict where ‘celebrity knights’ engage in high-profile public beefs, with armies of feudal ‘mooks’ (regular folk) rallying to the flags of their chosen knights, and engaging in thousands and millions of mini battles as standard-bearers for their causes. It gets deeper than this, pointing to a deep loss of history, and unmooring from a future we understand.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Charlie Munger – CalTech interview – December 2020 – Compounding Knowledge. “I’ve come back to Charlie Munger (and his more famous business partner, Warren Buffett) many times in these links, because I love the way these old, arch-capitalists cut through the noise and bullshit of our crazy world. Munger is particularly fun to listen to because he’s less generous with his words, and much grouchier than Buffet – so every remark lands with an economy that’s rare to hear.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• 2020 In “WTF” Science News – Inverse. “I know how much you like stories that involve science… but, what about WTF stories about science? You are welcome…” (Mitch for Alistair).
• A Collection of Music To Listen To While Reading – Book Riot. “I have a playlist titled, Read, Write & Think. It’s a long one, and it is ever-evolving. It’s (mostly) jazz, some classical, some instrumental, and various other weird kinds of music (that I like). The trick is – for me at least – that it can’t have vocals in it – or musical lines that ‘feel’ like lyrics. I can’t focus on my reading (or writing) if it has vocals in it. Hard stop. Then, an article like this comes along (filled with tons of music to listen to). So, if you’re a little like me, and love to listen to music (without vocals) while you read and/or write, here’s a little something for you…” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends ;):