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 (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), 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:
- Listening to Trump – Nonsite.org. “I am not going to post links about the election. I am not going to post links about the election. I am not going to post links about the election. Okay, yes I am, but I waited a bit, and I’m trying to find less-trafficked, more reasoned ones that seek to understand tomorrow rather than lay blame for yesterday. So with that: ’ he structure of Trump’s discourse will never demand that all the pieces be connected… He has even described his own statements as mere ’ pening bids’ in a negotiation.’ This is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the next four years of global history.” (Alistair for Hugh).
- On Bullshit and the Oath of Office: The “LOL Nothing Matters” Presidency – Lawfare. “Harry Frankfurt‘s famous treatise, On Bullshit, argues that bullshit and lying are different, because the liar knows the truth and avoids it. This article asks, not even snarkily, ‘What does it mean when a bullshitter swears an oath, particularly when the oath requires a concept like faithfulness? And what is the relationship between bullshit and law?’ Also important reading, whatever side of the aisle/home team you stand on.” (Alistair for Mitch).
- The full moon just triggered one of the largest mass spawning events of 2016 – Science Alert. “When it all gets a bit too much for you, watch this calming video of corals having sex to the light of the full moon.” (Hugh for Alistair).
- The Infinity Wall: projection mapped illusion in the desert night – Boing Boing. “When it all gets a bit too much for you, watch this calming video of a giant projection mapped illusion.” (Hugh for Mitch).
- New Brain-Like Chip Uses Light to Go Blazingly Fast – Singularity Hub. “So, here’s what we know: as artificial intelligence and machine learning takes hold, it is becoming clear that the way our computers work have severe limitations, in terms of processing power. There have been theories on how to resolve this. Well, Princeton engineers may have gone from theory to practice. Here’s what they’re doing: ‘neuromorphic computing running on photons, not electrons, with silicon chips that work at the speed of light.’ Candidly, I have no idea what that means, but it sounds like serious Star Trek type of stuff. The result? This could mean that if all-light computing is viable, the processing speed could be millions of times faster. We are not prepared.” (Mitch for Alistair).
- Facebook Shouldn’t Fact-Check – The New York Times. “Fake news is a problem. Between us, this isn’t really news. It’s been happening for a very long time. Now, because of the new President Elect, we’re shining a light on this problem. And yes, this is a problem. Should the correction come from Facebook and Google? They’re just the platform. They’re not the creators of this content. Still, that’s too much of a simplistic reaction. Check this out: ‘… hiring editors to enforce accuracy — or even promising to enforce accuracy by partnering with third parties — would create the perception that Facebook is policing the ‘truth,’ and that is worrisome. The first reason has to do with the nature of Facebook’s business. The second has to do with the news business.
One thing is clear to anyone who has worked in a newsroom: Not all fact-checking decisions are black and white.’ We are going to have an increasingly tough time being media literate and getting accurate journalism unless we all step up and try to get our media mess fixed. Pronto.” (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.