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 (Just Evil Enough, 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:

• Technologies For Intelligent Voluntary Cooperation – Allison Duettmann – Gaming The Future. “Less Wrong is a site ‘dedicated to improving human reasoning and decision-making’ that contains some amazing thinking. I really liked this long form piece on gaming the future. The core idea is that emerging technologies such as bio-engineering, nanotech-scale manufacturing, and superintelligent AI are right around the corner, and could usher in unprecedented prosperity, or unspeakable horrors. What’s the ‘game theory’ answer that will guide us? I love this framing: ‘Civilization is an inherited game shaped by those before you. If you’re happy your ancestors did not lock you into a future, should you leave everything up to future players?’ Increasingly, the problem I have with these thoughts is that they’re hard to implement when politics have become a team sport and three-word slogans prevail. Still, I’m glad smart people are working on this.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• The Path To American Authoritarianism – Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way – Foreigh Affairs. “I spent a week in San Francisco recently as part of my book launch. It was a great chance to catch up with old friends I hadn’t seen in far too long. But there’s a tone in the chorus of voices across the Bay Area that was new. SF could be a flashpoint for a civil war; it’s living in the future (self-driving taxis everywhere) but has an astonishing wealth disparity. Self-avowed pacifists are posting videos of their gun training on social media (‘that’s where they’ll look for easy victims when the store shelves are empty.’) How did we get here – and how far might it go? ‘U.S. democracy will likely break down during the second Trump administration, in the sense that it will cease to meet standard criteria for liberal democracy: full adult suffrage, free and fair elections, and broad protection of civil liberties.’ This has already happened, and we’re only a few weeks in. I don’t usually recommend walled articles, but I gave Foreign Affairs my email to read it and it was worth it.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• David Lynch Melting My Heart For Three Minutes Straight – ingaybows – YouTube. “A few minutes of David Lynch, in interviews, on set, giving speeches and more. RIP.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• David Lynch’s Cigarette Cinema – Meaghan Garvey – GQ. “Cigarettes are terrible, of course, and it’s always so strange to see people smoking these days. Even stranger to see the cool young scenesters smoking. So much the better (and yet… there is something, still – hopefully just for those of us old enough to remember – so aesthetically pleasing about a well-filmed cigarette scene). David Lynch was a true lover of cigarettes. He loved them so much he died of emphysema. And his movies have some of the great smoking scenes on film.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• The Bald Manifesto – Eli Coyote Mandel – The New Yorker. “I think I was in my very early twenties when I pulled the tirgger and shaved my head. It was one of those ‘you can’t quit… you’re fired’ moments that I had with my follicles. Up until that point, my hair was rocker-long but fading in all of the classic ‘male pattern baldness’ ways. It was not cool to be bald back then… and I wasn’t cool anyways, so I had nothing to lose. With that, I never understood ‘bald humor’ or any humor around hair. Sure, I can be as vain as the next person, but when it comes to hair? I never got it… like never. I’m not insulted when people make comments about my chrome dome… I mean, if they think they’re being funny or insulting… ok… that’s on them. So, I read this article and thought… hmmmm… is this how people actually think? As I get older, Ibeing bald maybe, makes me look younger? Honestly, I don’t know. So… if you have someone bald in your life, maybe this will make them laugh… or feel like they’re in some kind of ‘club’… I don’t know…” (Mitch for Alistair).
• 4+ Hours Of Philosophy To Fall Asleep To (Taoism, Stoicism, Existentialism And More) – Success Chasers – YouTube. “A new rabbit-hoe has been unlocked. I’ve been having trouble falling asleep lately. Usually, some good binaural beats or weird jazz (with no lyrics) does the trick. But lately? It hasn’t worked. YouTube to the rescue. Here’s one example from a slew of content creators who have produced these three to six hour long videos… ASMR for the brain. The result? It works! I wish I could also confirm that I’ve become much more learned about philosophy or religion or history or any of the other topics available… but I can’t remember a thing… still… I can convince myself that if I can’t sleep, I might as well learn. I’m also guessing that these YouTubers are raking it in. This video has over two million views… Happy sleeping!” (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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