Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #647

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: 

• The end of the system of the world – Noahpinion – Noah Smith. “Clearly I’m just full of fun and distraction today! Noah Smith has written a brillant, sweeping piece on how human society functions, and why that’s changing. I kicked off day two of FWD50 with a talk on tech and government — specifically, how the printing press caused the replacement of the monarchy with the republic, and how the Internet will replace the republic with something new. Nobody can predict the future, but this is as good a guess as any I’ve seen.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• 100 years after his birth, Kurt Vonnegut is more relevant than ever to science – Science. “Seems timely, and it’s Kurt Vonnegut‘s anniversary. ‘Science,’ he said, ‘is magic that works.’ In this era of anti-science and fictional facts, it’s important to celebrate fiction writers who helped us think about technology and progress. His lessons on thoughtful progress can be applied not just to science, but to the technology industry, which — particularly in the last couple of weeks — has not been heeding the call.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• The Body of Thought: On Markus Gabriel’s “The Meaning of Thought” – Los Angeles Review of Books. “What if thinking is just a sense like sight and smell?” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Libraries Are Launching Their Own Local Music Streaming Platforms – Motherboard by Vice. “And they call it .. radio! Cool idea though, I’ve always thought local libraries should focus on surfacing the information (books, music) from and about their communities. First I’ve heard of local music streaming.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• They made a material that doesn’t exist on Earth. That’s only the start of the story – Planet Money – NPR. “The headline alone should capture your attention and imagination. I do love science stories like this. True innovation and deep thinking… and experimentation that leads down a whole bunch of unpaved roads… and all of that just opens things up to a million more questions about the universe around us. TLDR: ‘Two teams of scientists… recently announced that they managed to manufacture, in a lab, a material that does not exist naturally on Earth. It — until now — has only been found in meteorites.’ This is the amazing story.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• They Want to Kill Libraries – Cory Doctorow. “Candidly, I don’t even know where to start with this one. Every sentence into every paragraph is both quotable and jaw-dropping (and do follow the links as well). As you know, I’m the Chair of the Executive Council for my local public library… and I’ve always loved everything there is to love about the library. Sadly, most people still think that the library is a place to loan books (or various forms of physical media). They also think of libraries as the place that is quiet (instead of a vibrant town square that has everything from radio stations to cafes inside of them). Libraries truly are (or can be) the ultimate ‘third space.’ So… please… read this piece. Share this article. Visit your local library (check out what they offer in digital services as well). And, more importantly, when you think about all of this talk about book banning or trying to get a library shut down, just remember that those same people give their kids (who they claim to be protecting) unbridled access to the Internet. Oh, the irony… oh, the tragedy…” (Mitch for Hugh).

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