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: 

• Lost Context: How Did We End Up Here? – NewCo Shift – Medium. “Algorithms are a superpower, and a huge liability. Left to their own devices, they’ll single-mindedly find the best way to sell hotel rooms (Orbitz showing Mac users more expensive rooms) or play video games (playing Breakout better than any human ever in three hours.) But when the currency we set them on is clicks, we sometimes bring out the worst in ourselves or recommend products (Amazon suggesting other pieces of bomb-making equipment when you buy an ingredient that can be used to make explosives.) So naturally, ad platforms are a lens into what we pay attention to — and we find out we aren’t as enlightened as we thought.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• ‘Cash Me Outside’ Girl Signing Marks The Official Split of the Music Industry – Digital Music News. “I’ve been interested in the impact of digital technology and data science for a few years now (I wrote an e-book on it a while back.) One of the inexorable conclusions is that music will become two industries: Popularity, driven by attention; and Music, driven by listening. There’s a divergence here that’s been happening since the early days of video killing the radio star, and it’s playing out all around us. When metrics for charting songs are driven by views, you get pop that’s predicated on how many people want to know what is the buzz about, rather than ‘I like this song!’ Here’s exhibit A.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• How Renaissance Painting Smoldered with a Little Known Hallucinogen – Hyperallergic. “Were Renaissance painters all high on shrooms?” (Hugh for Alistair).
• The Search for a New Humility: Václav Havel on Reclaiming Our Human Interconnectedness in a Globalized Yet Divided World – Brain Pickings. “Can you think of any world leaders who should read this, from poet/dissident/ex-president of the Czechoslovakia?” (Hugh for Mitch).
• How Amazon is becoming the third force in advertising, making the duopoly an oligopoly – The Drum. “I won’t get credit for this. That’s fine. I’m not bitter. Seriously. I’m not. For years (and I mean, many, many years), I have been talking/writing up the potential of Amazon as a true media force to be reckon with (case in point from 2012: Is Amazon The Future Of Media?). The day has either arrived… or it is coming faster than most businesses know what to do about it. This article cogently pulls it all together. This isn’t an alert notice to Google or Facebook to watch their duopoly backs… it’s a call to all businesses to think about their Amazon strategy… not just when it comes to selling… but when it comes to media as well.” (Mitch for Alistair). 
• Ev Williams Has Big Plans For Medium 3.0 – Fast Company. “I’ve fallen in love with Medium lately. I’ve fallen hard. I have no idea how they did it (that’s not true, I have some thoughts), but I do believe that there is something unique, powerful and beautiful about what Medium is… and what is to come. The problem (of course), is that publishing is becoming a tougher and tougher media landscape to build a viable and sustainable business upon. Still, writers (and creators) need a platform to publish on. Is Medium the answer? If they are, what will it look like in the future? Take a read…” (Mitch for Hugh).

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