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:
- Dopamine Jackpot! Sapolsky on the Science of Pleasure – Daily Motion. “What makes humans special? Well, lots of things, but one is our ability to work all our lives for something that may not bring a payoff. This can have evolutionary advantages as a society; but looking at dopamine and its role in anticipation is pretty fascinating. I was going to use a different link, but I’ll share that one next week–it’ll be amazing, trust me.” (Alistair for Hugh).
- #LDJAM on Twitter. “I spent the weekend making a video game. It was part of a worldwide event called Ludum Dare–now in its 41st iteration–where teams from across the globe build a game in 48 hours under a set of constraints. This year’s theme, ‘Combine two incompatible game genres,’ led to things like Pac-man with poker cards (avoid ghosts and build a full house) or racing match-three games (it’s like Candy Crush but you’re collecting the colored cars of your crashed opponents). We made a mashup of a Guitar Hero rhythm game and a card game, producing pretty much the worst way to play an instrument in history. The Twitter feed is full of amazing ideas.” (Alistair for Mitch).
- What Happens When Geneticists Talk Sloppily About Race – The Atlantic. “Sam Harris must be the most un-self-reflective supposedly reflective smart person in the universe. He recently got into a very weird and frustrating debate about race and IQ and ‘moral panics’ with Ezra Klein. Anyway, this link isn’t to that messy and annoying collection of media, but rather to a more thoughtful piece that argues that we need to be more precise when we talk about these issues, especially since they are so hyper-charged with political danger.” (Hugh for Alistair).
- Palantir Knows Everything About You – Bloomberg. “Welcome to 1984 times a million.” (Hugh for Mitch).
- Bitcoin is the greatest scam in history – Recode. “I’ve been spending a lot of time reading, researching and thinking about blockchain over the past few years. I don’t think that most people really know/understand what it means and how it builds trust. I constantly see headlines about how this technology will transform everything. Every industry has their own blockchain specialists. I am very bullish on blockchain. Still, blockchain does take the backseat when it comes to cryptocurrency. That’s where the action is. That’s where the terror often is as well. Normally, I hate sharing salacious headlines, but read this and consider the source. One question worth pondering: should we ever equate crytocurrency to the current currency models?” (Mitch for Alistair).
- Bezos’s empire: how Amazon became the world’s most valuable retailer – The Guardian. “I’m going to keep banging this drum: Nobody (really) knows what the Amazon brand is. It’s just that big. Tired of articles about just how big, might and powerful Amazon is? Too bad. Here’s another one. Granted, I’m really sharing this for two reasons. One, it’s visually stunning and staggering. Two, their quarterly earnings came out after this piece was published and, still, ka-blam… wow… what numbers they were! Can anybody really beat them?” (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter