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, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) 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: 

• AI Safety Research Landscape – Future Of Life. “Love me a navigable mindmap. Finding it hard to keep track of the names and projects out there? Here’s a handy navigable map. From Vingean Reflection to Episodic Contexts, there’s a lot to dive into. Not the best way to explore data, but fun to play with if you care about the jargon of AI safety.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• Patent Troll Sable Pays Up, Dedicates All Its Patents To The Public! – Emily Terrell and Patrick Nemeroff – Cloudflare. “There’s a great episode of Silicon Valley (S4E7) where a patent troll targets Pied Piper. The CEO refuses to settle, and tries to rally his competitors in solidarity to stand up to the bully, who has no intention of producing any product, and just makes money from threatening to sue. In the show, the competitors settle, leaving Pied Piper holding the bag. In the real world? Not so much. Cloudflare not only fought a patent troll, it launched a bounty paying people to find prior art that would invalidate the troll’s entire portfolio. Damn.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• George Grant And Conservative Social Democracy – George Dunn – Compact. “We are witnessing, it seems, the unravelling of social liberalism, a philosophy and politics I ascribe to, which balances individual freedom and the state’s role in ensuring justice and equality. It’s unraveling as much from pressures on the Right (expected), and the Left (unexpected?). The nature of radicalism on either side of the political spectrum is that it wants radical change; the nature of (true) conservatism is caution about undoing institutions too quickly (conservatism = conserve). So it is funny – after spending my life as something of a radical – I am feeling the current moment like something of a conservative. I don’t believe our institutions are rotten, and I mostly don’t believe in tearing them down. I’m not sure how much I agree with George Grant, but this concept of ‘conservative social democracy’ is compelling – at least as a term or concept – pointing in a direction that is (perhaps) how I am feeling about the world right now.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• American’s Aren’t As Divided And Polarized As They Think? – Mary Meehan – Forbes. “To my point above, we’ve all been hoodwinked by political rabble rousers on both sides of the increasingly divided political landscape, and the media and social media machines that benefit from us all hating each other. We hold profoundly mistaken ideas about what the ‘opposition’ actually believes. And, it turns out, we share much more in the way of fundamental beliefs. There is hope, somewhere, though how we undo our inability to talk to each other, I just don’t know.” (Hugh for Mitch).  
• Unplugging Is Not The Solution You Want – Matt Klein – Zine. “Has anything ‘really’ changed online? This is a fascinating thought piece about the present (and past) of content, distribution models, consumers and our behavior. So, if the result of this media stress is simply to delete apps, not feed the trolls, ignore the feed, leave the algorithm… where does this leave us… is this even possible? Do we resist the speed and power of the current? Perhaps the prescription is not to resist… but to accept it… to know what it is, but let the water take you where it wants to go – while consciously understanding the situation you’re in. But leaving… ignoring… fighting it? That’s a fantasy, not a solution. We’re in a tech-driven world so let’s build personal strategies to manage the constant flow of information. It’s not about shutting down… it’s about wising up. Just like you wouldn’t stop driving because there are traffic jams or too many accidents, you don’t throw out your phone because it overwhelms you. You learn how to navigate the digital landscape better. And this is a good place to start thinking about that.” (Mitch for Alistair). 
• Why Teenagers Are Deliberately Seeking Brain Rot On Tiktok – Emilie Owens – Psyche. “How do our kids handle of this ’this’. And by ’this’ I mean technology, screens, apps, games, content, feeds, algorithms and more. This one device is a myriad of ’things’ from pings and distractions to bullying and porn to their social connections and their homework. It’s… ‘everything’ is one always-on place that begs for attention and feeds on it as well. The concept of brain rot is one to make the eyes of ’The Olds’ roll (more on that here: From Brain Rot To Podcast Marathons), but maybe there’s something deeper going (that all parents and teachers need to pay attention to). What we see as mindless, often silly, content teens encounter on the socials, might actually be a sophisticated coping mechanism for teenagers navigating the overwhelming complexities of their digital lives. The article suggests that rather than attempting to police their online behavior, adults could benefit from understanding and learning from the way teenagers engage with digital media to manage stress and anxieties.” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

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