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 AI Will Help Us Connect With Ourselves And Each Other – Yohei Nakajima – TED Talks. “I’ve been following Yohei Nakajima for a while on X, and he’s been surprisingly grounded despite the furore he created around BabyAGI, a semi-autonomous, goal-seeking AI he built in a weekend a year ago. Watching this TED Talk, it’s clear why. Mitch, I know you’ve already seen this live, but I wanted to share it with our readers.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• Lawyering In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence – Minnesota Law. “I feel like I’m overdoing my AI content, but at the same time, I think it’s really important to get our heads around how this will change knowledge work and creativity. Here’s a study of how AI helps lawyers that’s reasonably well researched. The short answer: The good get slightly better, and everyone gets significantly faster. This suggests you need to be smart to become smarter with the help of an AI, at least for now.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• No, Aliens Haven’t Visited The Earth Why Are So Many Smart People Insisting Otherwise? – Intelligencer. “The great, and (usually) delightfully playful Nicholson Baker, plays party-pooper and pours cold water on the recent UFO craze.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Why Interstellar Objects Like ‘Oumuamua And Borisov May Hold Clues To Exoplanets – Knowable Magazine. “But what about Oumuamua, the interstellar object Harvard astronomer, Avi Loeb, believes might be evidence of an extraterrestrial technology? In the first article about Oumuamua not mentioning Loeb, narry a word about alien tech, but lots of interest in more study.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• How To Fix The Internet – MIT Technology Review. “It’s hard not to marvel at the ironic and terrifying journey our commercialized Internet has brought society – from glorifying cat memes to grappling on the battleground with cybertrolls… it continues to be a digital rollercoaster. This read wittily navigates the dichotomy of the internet – a narrative that flips from praising the internet’s role as a digital haven to critiquing its darker underbelly, with a tone that’s both lighthearted and laden with digital dystopia. Just the kind of stuff we like to dig into here. It doesn’t just throw shade at the usual suspects (looking at you, 4chan) but also offers a glimmer of hope with solutions that could either be groundbreaking or the next ‘pivot’ that goes nowhere fast. It’s a compelling read that’s as much about finding the internet’s ‘Ctrl + Z’ as it is about appreciating its ‘Alt + Tab’ versatility.” (Mitch for Hugh).
• Everyone’s A Sellout Now – Vox. “Here’s a strong argument that defines the line between building a brand and a personal brand. And, while using the word ’sellout’ in the title might be a little too heavy-handed for me, I can empathize with the vast array of professionals (from artists to lawyers) who suddenly feel like they need to become ‘content creators’ if they want to be successful. Imagine being a great writer with a great manuscript, but the book publishers won’t touch it because you haven’t built a sufficient audience on social media? It’s easy to read something like that and shrug your shoulders, but there’s a ’there’ there. Is it really necessary for individuals to spend their time hyping themselves up to family, friends and former classmates in the hopes that what their sharing expands to the point where strangers want to follow that journey… or shouldn’t that writer just… you know… write and do the work? Maybe we need to dig deeper? Is this constant online engagement and self-promotion to achieve professional success really the end game? The article does a good job of critiquing the impact of this on work and authenticity, underscoring the dilemma faced by everyone who must balance their work integrity with the demands of self-promotion in the digital age.” (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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