Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #413

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, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, Pandemonio, and ResolveTO, Author of Lean Analytics and some other books), 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:

Immersive Linear Algebra – Immersive Math. “This amazing interactive math textbook shows what’s possible with modern interfaces. In data science we have ‘notebooks’–Python, Jupyter, and R code, alongside text, that is both a book and a program. Here, the authors have applied this approach to a math textbook, letting readers play with values, drag angles around, and get an instant understanding of things like vector products, that are intuitively obvious but harder to express mathematically.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Google’s Selfish Ledger Is An Unsettling Vision of Silicon Valley Social Engineering – The Verge. “Google‘s research labs come up with crazy ideas, some of which take root in some way within the company’s products. Out of context, however, they can look like B-roll reels for Black Mirror episodes, and the Selfish Ledger is no exception. Personally, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of personal agents–what their goals are when we get them commercially, and whether they have client-attorney privilege, and so on. But when the thinking leans towards making bespoke artifacts to nudge a person towards even more sensors, or steering people towards a better society, it raises a ton of important questions about our species.” (Alistair for Mitch).
How democracy dies – New Statesman. “There was a time when most of us in the West had the Hegelian conviction that democracy was the system preferred by the arc of history (now and forever). You still hear many pundits say things like, ‘History won’t judge [latest political incomprehensible shocker] well,’ assuming that ‘ istory’ is on ‘our’ side, meaning the side of liberal democracy. But, democracy is under threat — from populists within, and from well-functioning and supported dictatorships from without. And it might not survive.” (Hugh for Alistair).
What Does Quantum Physics Actually Tell Us About the World? – The New York Times. “Answer: that things are stranger than our brains can handle.” (Hugh for Mitch).
A psychologist explains why technology’s impact on your brain is probably overblown – Quartz. “We don’t really understand technology. We’re all addicted to technology. Staring at screens can’t be good for our brains. Google is making us all dumber… and more shallow. Nobody really knows what this tech addiction is doing to our children (…and it can’t be good). These are standard turns of phrase that we see (and are bombarded by) and read on a daily basis. The fear is real. The science behind this thinking? Maybe not so much?” (Mitch for Alistair).
Millennials may prefer reading paper books over e-books – Futurity. “Kids today… such rebels. Suddenly, they all want to read books on… wait for it… paper?” (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.