Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #204

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 (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto) 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:

• Books That Predicted The Future – Short List. "The future is here; it’s just not evenly distributed, says William Gibson. Gibson’s high on this list of books that called out future trends, and I still maintain that sci-fi is behind many of today’s greatest ideas. Looking at this list makes me want to spend more time reading modern fiction." (Alistair for Hugh).
• The Non-Paradox of Choice – National Review Online. "Shoppers are given a choice of six jams, and they buy some. They’re given a choice of twenty-four, and they buy far less. This is a widely cited example of the Paradox of Choice. As a speaker, this is a story I’ve often told when urging audiences to simplify. But is it true? Probably not, says this National Review article. Instead, it’s a good lesson in why we need to get better at math and statistics. Malcolm Gladwell may have shown us how to convince with stories — but he’s also shown us how to cherry-pick. Mea maxima culpa." (Alistair for Mitch).
• The Half-Century Anniversary of "Dr. Strangelove." – The New Yorker. "One of, or perhaps the, greatest movies about total human annihilation just turned 50. I saw Dr. Strangelove first when I was 14 or so, and was so shocked that a movie could be so crazy. I’ve seen it multiple times since then, and every time it is an absolute delight of satire, humor and terror. When Kubric started writing the script, he planned a straight thriller – but it turns out that human extinction is supposed to be funny." (Hugh for Alistair).
• But What Would The End of Humanity Mean For Me? – The Atlantic. "Speaking of total human annihilation, Stephen Hawking and a collection of eminent scientists have gotten behind a new think tank, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, which looks at the catastrophic dangers posed to humanity, by, among other things, hyper-intelligent machines. Eat your heart out Ray Kurzweil." (Hugh for Mitch).
• What are some of the best sarcastic quotations – Quora. "I am – and always have been – an extremely sarcastic person. This doesn’t always play out well. Some people perceive me to be serious, so when they meet me and I’m being all sarcastic, it doesn’t go over well. Plus, in my travels, I’ve learned that sarcasm also has it’s own way of being interpreted in various cultures (and not always in a good way). Still, I’m an unabashed fan of sarcasm. So, this one made me laugh… or did I take it all too seriously?" (Mitch for Alistair). 
• The Lure of the Writer’s Cabin – The New York Times. "My buddy, Ann Handley (of MarketingProfs) is almost done building a writer’s cabin. It’s a 12×6 self-enclosed ‘space’ that could be misinterpreted for a shed in the backyard. And, that’s the point. It’s a place of solitude and it’s sparse of decor. It’s meant to inspire creativity, and… well… I’m totally in love with the idea. So, thanks to her, I’m neck-deep in checking out Pinterest pages on the topic, reading articles like this and dreaming of what my own writer’s cabin will look like… because now, I desperately want one!" (Mitch for Hugh). 

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