Six Links That Make You Think #786

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 (Just Evil Enough, 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:

Rival Consoles – Soft Gradient Beckons – Erased Tapes – YouTube. “I mostly listen to EDM and techno, and there are some amazing artists out there – Max Cooper, Moderat, Jon Hopkins. One real standout is Rival Consoles, a brit by the name of Ryan Lee West. This track’s only around three minutes long. The rest of the video is the behind-the-scenes explanation of how it was made: artist Anthony Dickenson made prints for every frame of the animation. Let’s just say it’s a lot. Love the track too.” (Alistair for Hugh). The False Gods Of Our Feeds – Rohan Routroy – Nothing In A Nutshell . “This is an astonishingly good essay on the current state of social media. I am almost angry at how many sentences in it are small revelations, new perspectives on our online, screen-scrolling society. ‘The rosary bead has been replaced by the endless scroll of the feed, which farms our attention to anoint the gods of our era.’ I love our Six Links tradition in part because it’s not algorithmic, and this is the kind of writing I immediately save for our link exchange when I find it.” (Alistair for Mitch).  The Amount Of Electricity Generated From Solar Is Suddenly Unbelievable – Joe Wilkins – Futurism . “The numbers are a bit mind-boggling, but here’s one: 93% of new installed electric generation capacity in the USA is solar. There’s more…” (Hugh for Alistair).  Adapting Canadian Energy Policy For AI – Energy Security Podcast3 – Canadian Global Affairs Institute . “More podcasts with my recent find, about Canada and energy. This one about more mind-boggling things: how AI will impact energy production and consumption, and how Canadian companies might benefit (the opening 15 mins or so are on another topic altogether).”  (Hugh for Mitch). AI Bands, TikTok, Spotify & The Death Of Songwriting – Rick Beato – Modern Wisdom – YouTube . “When it comes to listening to people talk about music, my two favorites are Rick Beato and Brian Eno (oh, wow, I wonder what it would take to make that conversation happen on Ricj’s podcast?). In the meanitime, Rick just popped into my feed in this appearance of the Modern Wisdom Podcast with Chris Williamson (I’m a fan of this show too). In this conversation, Rick takes us on a deep dive into the collision of AI and music, spotlighting how new tools (from AI-generated band tracks and bands to TikToks) are reshaping the craft of songwriting. He argues that while algorithms can produce stunning ‘songs’, that they lack the human spark born from lived experience, emotional nuance and raw imperfection. Rick warns that as streaming platforms reward bite-sized content, artists are being squeezed into creating for virality rather than artistic integrity… think 60-second loops over full-length compositions and albums. His critique: if creativity becomes formulaic, we risk hollowing out the musical ecosystem, trading depth for dopamine hits. But he also finds hope that human musicians adapt by leaning into authenticity, improvisation and storytelling, traits AI can’t replicate… yet…” (Mitch for Alistair). DHH: Future Of Programming, AI, Ruby On Rails, Productivity & Parenting – Lex Fridman Podcast #474 – YouTube . “I would usually not post a link to anything that I haven’t thoroughly gone through and vetted. So be forewarned that this might be the first. I’m saying this because… and I can’t even believe I’m saying this… This is a 6-hour podcast! One episode. Six hours. I’m not completely surprised that a six hour podcast is being hosted by Lex Fridman. And I am very happy to see that the guest is DHH (aka David Heinemeier Hansson). I’m a huge fan of David’s thinking and his work from his business, 37Signals and Basecamp to the books he’s co-authored. There was a really interesting part in this interview, whjere DHH delivers a thoughtful rejection of the idea that coding is going extinct in the age of AI (hello, vibe coding!). He arugues (and I agree) that programming isn’t just typing… it’s finger-craft, muscle memory and intuition. You don’t learn guitar by reading chord charts, and you don’t learn to code by prompting an LLM. As with everything: You learn by doing. Sure, AI chat tools can feel like a boost but heavily leaning on AI to write code is a different beast. The real danger? Skill atrophy. If you automate too much, you lose touch with the craft, context and creativity that comes from building something yourself (see my other link in relation to this, but about music). For companies and creators, the clear message is: use AI to support your work but don’t let it write your code for you. Otherwise, you risk outsourcing not just effort but expertise… and that’s how innovation stops.” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

The CGAI Podcast Network · Adapting Canadian Energy Policy for AI

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