Articles

Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #637

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:

Capitol Records “Severs Ties” With AI Rapper FN Meka, Issues Apology After Facing Criticism for “Gross Stereotypes” – Pitchfork. “Last week, I gave a talk in Berlin on the Civilization Stack. I used an AI to generate all the art on my slides. I definitely stood on the shoulders of uncredited, unpaid artists, whose work was grist for the algorithmic mill. Algorithms aren’t people (yet!) and don’t have rights. So what are we to make of an AI Rapper, trained on the lyrics and music of artists? How does it identify? Is it allowed to use words that are racial slurs? Oh, what a tangled web we weave.” (Alistair for Hugh).
“The fog of war”*…. – (Roughly) Daily. “New to me: The Battle of Karánsebes is one of the dumbest fights in history. Two parts of the same army attack one another. This seems like an excellent metaphor for all sorts of things, from political infighting to humans shelling nuclear reactors when they should be worried about teaming up to survive a planet that’s increasingly both on fire and underwater.” (Alistair for Mitch).
The Big [Censored] Theory – The Pudding. “The weird world of Chinese censorship of American sitcoms.” (Hugh for Alistair).
As Colorado River Dries, the U.S. Teeters on the Brink of Larger Water Crisis – ProPublica. “What’s your preferred existential crisis? Lack of water is a pretty fundamental one.” (Hugh for Mitch).
What if you could sing in your favorite musician’s voice? – Holly Herndon – TED2022. “One of the things that I most look forward to at the annual TED event is the technology that gets previewed (usually before too many others have seen it). This isn’t exactly that, but it did open my eyes (and ears) to a new world of creativity, opportunity, art, music, and – most importantly – legal questions. What if technology allowed you to sing like any other musician in the world? What if that musician wasn’t one individual, but an AI algorithm tuned to a voice that is pleasant or recognizable? As a tag-along to Alistair’s link above, this TED Talk will only create a million more questions in a music business world that sees a constant barrage of lawsuits based on music that was created in tribute to music that came before it. While you’re at it, please do check out Holly Herndon (and Holly Plus). Get ready… this is jaw-dropping…” (Mitch for Alistair).
Can the American Mall Survive? – The New Republic. “I’m a sucker for a massive American shopping mall. I’m a Mall Rat. I love the smell of commerce in the morning. The crazy thing is, that I don’t buy much. I just love the feeling of wandering malls (weird, I know). And so, prior to Covid there was so much conversation around the ability for shopping malls to survive in an Amazon/eCommerce world. That got magnified and multiplied when the world got shut down. So, how are malls doing? Well, as you might expect, it depends on a lot of things… like where you live, the stores that are inside, what else is happening there (besides shopping), and much more. Here’s an in-depth look at the future of the shopping mall. I’m rooting for them!” (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.