Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #417

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:

Larry David and the Game Theory of Anonymous Donations – Nautilus. “It feels like in the last few years we got much smarter about manipulation, behavioural economics, and psychology. Maybe because of the sharing of ‘stupid human tricks’ online, or maybe because we can run tests at scale with the Internet. Anyway — it means you can produce different results with social settings. Want to run a charity auction? Anonymity is game theory.” (Alistair for Hugh).
The bizarre tale of the flat-Earth convention that fell apart – cnet. “I love me some Science Denier Schadenfreude. Extra points if it’s about conferences. And in this case, you have to ask: Why did the organizers plan it for Australia? Isn’t that perilously close to the edge? 😉 More importantly: Why are we seeing this sort of thing? One argument is that denying science and progress is a way to slow down the pace of change in one’s personal sphere. Or, in this case, platter.” (Alistair for Mitch).
Neural network-generated roller derby names – AI Weirdness. “First thing to know is that there is a blog called, AI Weirdness, which should be expected, but makes me happy nonetheless. Second important fact is that someone trained a neural network on a dataset of roller derby names, and got it to generate its own list of roller derby names. Third fact is that you can read about all this at the link above.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Roller derby – Wikipedia. “Did you know that the American newspaper man/humorist Damon Runyon is the co-inventor of roller derby? Do you even know what roller derby is? Did you know that there is a Roller Derby league in Montreal and they regularly have matches a five minute walk from my office? (Next match: June 28).” (Hugh for Mitch).
The Dangers of Distracted Parenting – The Atlantic. “I’ll often lament when I see small children in the park sitting around on a phone or tablet. They’re playing games… or watching videos… in a park… filled with other kids. What’s wrong with this world? Then, I’ll take a peak to see if any emails need tending to. What’s worse for humanity? Kids constantly using screens or parenting your kids while you’re constantly on a screen? Hmmm….” (Mitch for Alistair).
Man 1, machine 1: landmark debate between AI and humans ends in draw – The Guardian. “I never know what to make of artificial intelligence. Is it happening now and changing the world, or does it just suck at creating names for a Roller Derby team (mind you, Fun Stabs and Hey Pain, are great names!). Well, here’s a counter: AI is debating humans and winning… or drawing a tie. I could argue that if AI can tie a human being in a debate, it actually won. Still… kneel before your AI overlords. They are coming.” (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.