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:
- Light Fields – Videos From The Future – Two Minute Papers – YouTube. “This week, I’m going to show you a couple of examples of the astonishing work that is being done in AI and human-machine interfaces. First up: Two Minute Papers is an amazing YouTube channel where enthusiastic AI expert Károly Zsolnai-Fehér explains emerging research in just a few minutes. This one’s remarkable: A machine learning algorithm recreates a 3D model of the world from a video. That means once you’ve got a video (even an old one—your kid’s graduation) you can move around within the world as if you were in VR. No, really. It’s pretty good—as long as the video ‘saw’ a part of the scene, the AI can extrapolate that. So, you can’t magically see behind things, but it definitely feels like you’re there. Like I said, we are absolutely not ready for the future.” (Alistair for Hugh).
- DALL·E: Creating Images from Text – Open AI. “Next up: A play on Wall-E and Salvador Dali, this is another project from OpenAI, which created the GPT-3 language prediction tool. You can literally tell it to draw anything, and it will create an image of that. From ‘an illustration of a baby daikon radish in a tutu walking a dog’ to ‘a cube made of a porcupine,’ it’s remarkable. Consider, at the very minimum, a tool that lets children draw pictures by describing what they’re imagining. And this is the AI equivalent of the first personal computer.” (Alistair for Mitch).
- Mars in 8k – Curiosity and Beyond – YouTube. “Stunning footage of Mars from various rovers. Mars, take me away.” (Hugh for Alistair).
- Interview with Leonard Cohen and Anjani Thomas – SVT/NRK/Skavlan – YouTube. “Is there a more soothing voice than Leonard Cohen, singing, or (perhaps better) getting interviewed?” (Hugh for Mitch).
- Pretend It’s A City – Netflix. “I know the name, Fran Lebowitz. I know her to be an author (mostly). I am not familiar with her work, but her persona (her style, and that she can be a mixture of hysterical and acerbic in the same sentence). I had zero intentions of watching her new Netflix show, which is really a presentation of her thinking in the form of clips from live speaking engagements, and in interview with famed movie mogul, Martin Scorsese. Welp, I am hooked… and you will be too. Was Larry David’s persona created on Fran? The only thing more interesting and funnier than Fran’s perspective, is seeing how much it makes Scorsese laugh. So much great insight, humor and depth in these episodes. Plus, if you can’t get behind someone who can complain about almost anything, I’m not sure that we can be friends 😉 Totally binge-worthy. Promise.” (Mitch for Alistair).
- The Wikipedia Story – An Oral History of Wikipedia, the Web’s Encyclopedia – OneZero – Medium. “Hugh and I have many quirky passions in common. One of them, I believe, is our deep interest in Wikipedia. To many, Wikipedia is just another resource on the Internet. Hugh and I were there when it was launched, and watched (and learned) much about the Internet, society, and culture through the development and challenges that this platform endured. Still it stands. Here it is. 20 years later. It’s hard to believe that it has been twenty years since Wikipedia launched. It’s hard to believe that we’ve both been ‘online’ and active in spaces like this for more than two decades. So much has changed. So much hasn’t changed at all. Here’s an amazing and long article about Wikipedia…” (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends ;):