Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #398

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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: 

  • No Filter – The Baffler. “‘Instagram allows even the ugly to be beautiful and bad taste to masquerade as good.’ I love me some grumpy. This is a look at the awful, beautiful world of Instagram poetry.” (Alistair for Hugh).
  • Craft Beer Is the Strangest, Happiest Economic Story in America – The Atlantic. “I was in Panama last week for a conference on business and sustainability. One of the topics was the inevitable concentration of companies into fewer, bigger competitors (because of economies of scale) and their exploitation of externalities (to capture profits at the expense of others.) But it turns out this doesn’t happen everywhere–in craft beer, for example!” (Alistair for Mitch).
  • CheXNet: an in-depth review – Luke Oakden-Rayner. “This one is not for the faint of heart. It’s a detailed examination of the data behind some research claims about AI being used in a medical application, ‘an algorithm that can detect pneumonia from chest X-rays at a level exceeding practicing radiologists.’ The author of this post says, not so fast.” (Hugh for Alistair).
  • AI: Racing Towards The Brink – Sam Harris. Sam Harris, who can veer towards dogmatism on some topics around politics and religion, is at his best talking about AI and human cognition. In this podcast, he interviews Eliezer Yudkowsky about what we really have to fear from AI (hint: it’s not malicious terminator-style robots; it’s probably far worse).” (Hugh for Mitch).
  • We’re ‘addicted’ to socializing–not our smartphones – Futurity. “Well, here’s an interesting perspective. Maybe all of our smartphone addiction woes has little to do with the engineering of the software and much more to do with something a little more… shall we say… primal: our self-esteem? Maybe we’re so attached to our smartphones not because of how the technology is programmed to make it a compulsion, but more to do with how we – as human beings – are evolving. According to this research, we are changing… and we are changing to be much more social by nature. So, it’s now in our DNA to snoop on others and take selfies?” (Mitch for Alistair). 
  • John Perry Barlow, 70, Dies; Championed an Unfettered Internet – The New York Times. “The three of us that share links here with the world come from a much more honest and pure internet. We were all there at the beginning. It was a very different time. We had hopes and dreams of open access for all… and place where diverse voices would be connected and heard. A place where anyone with a idea could spread it – for free – to the world. In a way, this world has come to be. In a way, this world looks nothing like those early days. John Perry Barlow was a huge part of what made us all want this internet to be so different. While his voice has been silenced, I’m hopeful that his idea will carry on, and that all of us will carry that torch forward on his behalf. RIP.” (Mitch for Hugh).

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