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 9 Experiments That Will Change Your View Of Light (And Blow Your Mind) – Astrum – YouTube. “Every now and then, I stop and remember that the memory in our smartphones contains atoms that came from a collision of two stars, and that I’m only able to realize that because I’m a set of molecules arranged in a very specific way that can use energy to create order, surrounded by billions of similar patterns that have built a civilization able to launch telescopes into space. And then my brain recoils a bit, and I scroll some social media to numb the realization. Changes happens slowly, but the sheer volume of entertaining, educational material that’s now accessible to anyone online is absolutely staggering. We take it for granted, but over time it will be absolutely transformative as a species. This is a good example.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• Animated Short – “Paths of Hate” – By Platige Image – KIS KIS Keep It Short – YouTube. “We’re also in a renaissance of animation, with computers and algorithms working alongside humans. My partner devours animated content, and from time to time she shows me something that’s absolutely riveting. This short film is beautiful, dark, and sobering. At a time when the world seems to hate itself, it’s important to remember that the only thing that can save us is to stop fighting.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• The Blue Masc – The Nation. “Big ‘ole article about Lou Reed.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• A Brief History Of The United States’ Accents And Dialects – Smithsonian Magazine. “I just love weird accents. The USA is just filled with them.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• My Bassdrum Speed Record – Playing 4 Pedals At Once – 400 bpms – El Estepario Siberiano – YouTube. “There are a few concepts working together that are important to note in this video. Drum playing has changed so much in the very few decades that the current ‘rock kit’ has been around. From speed to feel to playing styles. You would think that there’s not much that hasn’t been done with the drums, at this point. You would be wrong. Musicians are artists… and artists are constantly trying to push the limits and to push those limits beyond what we would expect. Jorge Garrido (aka El Estepario Siberiano) is a drummer from Valencia, Spain who is breaking through and re-inventing the drums in some very unique ways. And this is being done from a very different angle (the minimalist drum kit, the physical tech that he uses and his amazing sense of timing and speed). And he’s not doing this through a band or songs or albums… but through YouTube videos. He is a sensation in the music world, and you don’t have to like the drums to appreciate what’s going on here. Another major concept (a trend in music these days) are these young and incredible musicians who are trying to replicate digital music on acoustic instruments (to dig into this further, check out the band Polyphia). This is an amazing video that documents, perhaps, the beginning of a new way that drummers will play…” (Mitch for Alistair).
• The Tyranny Of The Algorithm: Why Every Coffee Shop Looks The Same – The Guardian. “This article is (maybe) kind of what you might think it is. Homogeneity. But it’s not. How can something be local, authentic and different and, yet, everywhere you go in the world, these types of establishment are almost always exactly the same? From the article: ‘What I concluded was that they were all authentically connected to the new network of digital geography, wired together in real time by social networks. They were authentic to the internet, particularly the 2010s internet of algorithmic feeds.’ So, if you grapple with the idea that we’re living in a simulation (or The Matrix) this will only add weight to it. I loved reading this article because I do love coffee shops (especially local and authentic ones) and I am left both laughing at myself and shaking my head why it never occurred to me how ‘same’ these places all are… so, what does it mean to be authentic, and when do we know that something is unique to our actual location and not an algorithm?” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

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