Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #388

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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 InterestingTilt the WindmillHBS, chair of StrataStartupfestPandemonio, 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: 

  • Pentagon Tiling Proof Solves Century-Old Math Problem – Quanta Magazine. “I found this more interesting than I expected to. It presages a future where humans figure a thing out gradually, then a machine helps test the rules the mathematician set out.” (Alistair for Hugh).
  • Film Crit Hulk SMASH: Let’s Talk About “Pickle Rick” – Birth. Movies. Death. “It’s easy to dismiss Rick and Morty as a puerile sequel to shows like Archer and South Park. But like those shows, there’s a lot beneath the surface. And the Pickle Rick episode is a heady does of existentialism, epistomology, and nihilism. Even if you don’t watch it, reading this review will give you a sense of how profound it is; the closing war of words between Rick and the therapist is university-level philosophy. From a man in a pickle roach rat body on a couch.” (Alistair for Mitch).
  • Big Money Rules – The New York Review of Books. “I worry about the future for my kids. Looking at a collection of factors changing in the world — AI, concentration of digital power, and the scale of control that wealth (partly due to the preceding factors) can now exert on our societies, I see a future where the comfortable middle class existence is a harder path to find. And, if you lean to another vision of the future, fighting for it is, I think, going to become more difficult. To cheer you up before the holidays, here is part of the story.” (Hugh for Alistair).
  • This Surreal Shot of Jupiter’s Clouds Is Exactly What We Need Right Now – Gizmodo. “It seems like the future is going to require a bit more buddhism, a bit more ‘we are but insignificant specs in the universe’ thinking… and these pics of Jupiter might help.” (Hugh for Mitch).
  • Jimmy Iovine Breaks Down What’s Wrong With the Music Business, Warns Against Overoptimism in Streaming: ‘They’re Not Making Money’ – Billboard. “I read all music business industry pieces with a grain of salt. I was there. From the beginning. I watched CDs come in and then digital downloads. I was in the industry. I left it for a very specific reason: the music industry was pushing back (hard) against technology, while – at the same time – I had a deep desire to push forward with technology. This is a great piece, because those days are done and we are where we are. In reading this, you may be fooled into thinking that this is just about the music industry. It is not. Everything Jimmy talks about in here is happening/going to happen to your brand and your industry. Enjoy the ride…” (Mitch for Alistair).
  • The quitting economy – Aeon. “Do you believe that a big part of what makes a company great is the people that work for it? Do you believe that a big part of what makes a company great is when the people that work there are loyal to the brand? What have we become? Here’s the premise: Business is a mess. Nobody is safe. Employees know this and they’re buying insurance. Insurance in themselves. With that, they’re ready to lift anchor and bolt… always. So, what does this make us? What great brands will survive?” (Mitch for Hugh).

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