Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #415

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:

Descartes’ robot daughter and the zombie problem – The Last Word on Nothing. “How will we feel about automatons? Will we love our robots too much, giving them human attributes? Or think them uncanny and strange, subjecting them to horrible abuse? Travel with me back to the rumoured automaton René Descartes (yes, that Descartes) made to mourn his dead daughter, for a possibly apocryphal look at how humans deal with almost-people.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Now playing: a movie you control with your mind – MIT Technology Review. “Interactive movies were a gimmick. But what about one that adapts to your emotions? This experimental 27-minute flick uses biofeedback from a headband to steer the narrative. Seems trivial — but most big changes look like toys at first. Consider a video game that adapts to your mood, making it just challenging enough. Or a nightmare scenario in which a generative VR environment maximizes horror (for interrogation) or arousal (for pornography.) Will viewers look back at today’s ‘ nresponsive’ films the way we look at black-and-white broadcast TV?” (Alistair for Mitch).
The Digital Poorhouse – The New York Review of Books. “Algorithms, racism and the oppression of the poor (maybe we’ll all be ‘ oor’ in the eyes of algorithms soon).” (Hugh for Alistair).
To My Favorite Stock Photos – Michelle Leatherby – Medium. “I laughed.” (Hugh for Mitch).
You’re simply not that big a deal: now isn’t that a relief? – Aeon. “We put a lot of pressure on ourselves, don’t we. We all want more. We want to achieve more. We want to get smarter. We want things… bigger, right? I think we all have a lot of work to do on ourselves (I include myself in this lot). Self-esteem, self-compassion, radical acceptance… and so on. In short, we need to be more loving and kind to ourselves. And, at the same time, we need to read this article, and get ourselves back to reality: the only one who really cares what we’re up to is, for the most part, ourselves. No mater how many friends, followers and likes you have.” (Mitch for Alistair).
Want to Read Michael Lewis’s Next Work? You’ll Be Able to Listen to It First – The New York Times. “Famed author, Michael Lewis, could have simply said that he’s working on an audio project. Instead, he decided to make a statement. His next book will not be available in print. It will be audio. He didn’t sell the story to Vanity Fair or his book publisher. He sold the rights to Audible. So, cue the long-worn debate: what is a book?” (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.