Six Links That Make You Think #789

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:

Outcomes & Systems: From Predicted Goods to Emergent Cohesion – Indy Johar – Substack. “A mouthful. But it’s an argument I agree with: In complex systems, any ‘outcome’ you set is a thing the system will immediately game for. Known as Goodhart’s law, it’s the reason doctors who are paid by patient survival suddenly operate on only the fittest patients. Once any measurement becomes a target, it stops being a good metric. Instead, argues Indy Johar, we should strive for systems that create the conditions for desirable futures. Long, chewy read – but also very important for fixing the modern world.” (Alistair for Hugh). Reading Abundance From China – Afra – Con-Current – Substack . “A book club gets together to discuss Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson‘s book Abundance. The twist? They were born and raised China, but now live in the West, and as a result, have a very different baseline from North Americans. Lots to internalize in this article, but the part that stuck with me was about how the Hollywood ideal of the ‘good life’ influences politics. For example: ‘I think there’s this incredibly limited imagination about what the good life looks like in American culture – both among ordinary people and political elites.'” (Alistair for Mitch). The Work Of Plagiarism And The Work Of Selling Out – Oliver Bateman Does The Work . “More thoughts on how various ethical/moral particularities are likely to go the way of the dodo with AI. ‘Every AI paragraph generated… can be fairly… described as plagiarism in aggregate.’ AI is a big wash/dry cycle of everything humans have written (including Wikipedia, code, textbooks and your blog posts from 2005) that the big AI companies could stuff into their data centres, with copyright laws discarded as forgiveness not permission bumps. And, as with anything useful enough (with enough capital behind it), some may care now; soon no one will. Is it going to matter? Depends what your definition of ‘is’ is.” (Hugh for Alistair). Humanlike? – Mike Dacey – Aeon . “Funny animal videos, and our insistence on interpreting animal emotions incorrectly. The first video linked in this article is the cutest thing, a polar bear patting the head of a dog. Interspecies love? Or prepping for a meal? A different bear ate one of the dogs from that same pack of dogs around the same time this video was taken. Was that dog happy or in abject terror? It’s not that animals don’t feel emotions; just that we’re not so good at interpreting them.” (Hugh for Mitch) .    Thinking Is Becoming A Luxury Good – Mary Harrington – The New York Times . “This op-ed piece is making a different kind of ‘digital divide’ argument. Yes, it’s still in relation to those with wealth and access versus those who don’t, but it’s about smartphones. First, you need to believe that smartphones have changed how people read and think (I’m not 100% percent convinced that this is true – especially when you look at the stats on ebooks and where that market is driivng… teens, BookTok, etc…). But let’s put that aside and agree that it’s making deep focus and long reading harder to develop. The claim is that this shift is creating inequity because wealthier families can limit screen time and support strong literacy while poorer children face more distractions. If this keeps going, society may become more divided, less thoughtful (is that even possible?) and easier to manipulate. Do you buy this argument?” (Mitch for Alistair). The Changing World Order: How Countries Go Broke – Ray Dalio – Modern Wisdom – YouTube . “I get worried every time I recommend a link to anything that anyone might find a hint political. It’s that contentious out there. With that, I could not resist, because I know how much Hugh loves the writing/thinking of Ray Dalio. To me this is not about politics but economics (still, I know how people are thinking these days). This conversation is based on Ray’s new book, How Countries Go Broke and (no surprise) it’s through cycles of debt and spending. Ray explains the connection between economics, politics and power in this conversation and they go very deep for almost an hour and a half. Ray’s hopeful that by understanding these patterns, we can all accept the extreme economic challenges like employment and government debt that we’re facing, as AI take hold. These are difficult and bumpy conversations and very worthy of everyone’s attention…” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

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