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: 

• The Coders Programming Themselves Out of a Job – The Atlantic. “I first came across this question on a reddit thread a while back, and it came up in class this week. In an era of automation, knowledge workers can replace what they do with code and scripts. Often this makes their work better and more predictable. Should they tell their boss? How could employers encourage this? And who gets the resulting profit? Technology change is hard.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• Dutch People Are Dicks. Here’s Why Americans Should Try It – Thrillist. “First of all, I *love* the Netherlands, so I almost skipped this article because of the click bait title. But it touches on a topic I’m hearing a lot about: the Agreeability personality trait, and how much we care about what others think. From Rick Barry throwing basketballs underhand, to sociopathic founders growth-hacking in marketing gray areas, to the radical candour movement, it feels like there is a real change in the air. Of course, directness like this article describes, requires civility and self-awareness, otherwise it’s just the usual political roaring.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• New Climate Debate: How to Adapt to the End of the World – Bloomberg Businessweek. “Just a cheery note on climate change: research has started to move on from ‘how bad will the collapse be if we continue on as we are’ to ‘how will we reorganize society when it starts collapsing due to climate change.’ Fun!” (Hugh for Alistair).
• No Cash Needed At This Cafe. Students Pay The Tab With Their Personal Data – NPR. “‘If you aren’t paying for a product, then you are the product’ is a common refrain in the digital world, and refers to services such as Facebook or Gmail, where the companies offering these services to you for free are monetizing by selling access to you/data about you to advertisers. You are the product being ‘sold’ to advertisers. There is no reason this exchange need be limited to the digital realm however, and this is the first time (I think?) I’ve read about a retail business giving away physical goods in exchange for data. But, why not?” (Hugh for Mitch).
• Orwell knew: we willingly buy the screens that are used against us – Aeon. “It’s hard to not be dystopian after reading an article like this. Our addiction to our screens (and the platforms on them) is generating tons of personal data. Nothing new there. The data is being used in a myriad of ways. Nothing new there. Some of that use is great for the consumer. Some of that use is very bad and very dark. OK, so there’s nothing really new here. Still, this one (big) idea: we willingly pay and use this stuff… and it’s being used against us… and it’s getting worse. Much worse. In fact, this article argues that we’re just at the beginning phase of it all. Uch.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• How to Be Comfortable on Your Own in Public – The Book of Life. “Imagine that. Confidence might be best defined as someone who can be comfortable in public by themselves, without feeling the pangs of having to look at a screen. Now there, my friends, is a confident human being! Look at that! They’re dining by themselves in a restaurant and not staring at their smartphone! How brave! How quaint! Maybe they’re a psycho? What have we become?” (Mitch for Hugh).

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