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Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #643

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:

How would you like to become immortal, starting today? – Undefined. “I have the secret to immortality. Turns out we’re doing pretty well, the three of us. And these posts, recorded over a decade, of our sharing links, may help. We can train an algorithm on a body of work, and have it parrot back variants of what we feed it based on statistics. And when we do, some smart humans think the resulting images are art, and think the resulting chat threads are consciousness. Odds our, your first chance at existing beyond the mortal grave is by creating a body of work that the machines can feed on. Six Links forever!” (Alistair for Hugh).
Reality: A Post-Mortem – The New Atlantis. “This tour-de-force series by Jon Askonas in The New Atlantis tackles many things that have been on my mind lately, far more eloquently than I could. ‘The unity we felt watching the news unfold on TV gave way to the division we feel watching events unfold online.’ A pitch-perfect, centrist lament that takes both poles to task for turning our social divisions into an alternate reality game.” (Alistair for Mitch).
Timothy Snyder – The Making of Modern Ukraine. Class 1: Ukrainian Questions Posed by Russian Invasion – YaleCourses – YouTube. “I’ve avoided posting anything about Ukraine, but this series of lectures from a Yale history prof about the history of Ukraine is useful context if Ukraine is the particular global crisis you’d most like learn more about.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Photographing the Microscopic: Winners of Nikon Small World 2022 – The Atlantic. “Some amazing pics.” (Hugh for Mitch).
The black market for blue checks – The Verge. “This type of activity shouldn’t even make me blink, but it always does. I’ve seen people try to use emojis to replicate a verified account. I’ve seen some people use words like ‘verified’ or ‘official’ in their username/handle to create the aura that their platform is the ‘authentic’ or verified one. So, should we be surprised that there is a black market for this? No. Should we be concerned that these accounts are often being hacked and sold as way to commit more nefarious activities? Probably.” (Mitch for Alistair).
How much trouble is Mark Zuckerberg in? – The Economist. “Look it, I have no idea whether or not Mark Zuckerberg’s version of ‘what’s next’ or ‘the metaverse’ will be the right way we use technology. I do know how easy it is to armchair quarterback all things ‘metaverse’ by being a cynic. The truth is that no one ever thought they would need a computer in their home… then a portable computer… then a mobile phone… then email on their phone… and the list just keeps on going. We praise entrepreneurs for placing big begs on what the future may hold. I’ve lived enough of a life to never underestimate the wildest of ideas. So, is Zuck in trouble? Whether you think he is… or you think he’s not… he’s still thinking about the future of tech and willing to bet his vast fortunes on how this might play out. It’s very interesting to watch… and to live through it.” (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.