Six Links That Make You Think #793

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:

A Visual Archive of Byte. “For two decades, Byte magazine charted the course of the personal computer industry from hobbyist weirdness to mainstream platform for the fledgling Internet. It ended print in 1998, and survived online until around 2010. But as a time capsule for most of what we take for granted today, it’s fascinating. There’s a fully-zoomable archive of every print page from every year that’s interesting to zoom around in.” (Alistair for Hugh). Tami T – Instagram . “This is a weird share for me, because since we started sharing links, I realized we always share pages or sites, not people. My sense of links is they’re pointers to things, pieces of information. I realized that in today’s world, there’s no real difference between a page, a website, a YouTube channel, and a public profile. But somehow, sharing a ‘person’ felt different. Anyway, Tami makes musical instruments for her performances, and they’re delightful.” (Alistair for Mitch). AI Comes Up With Bizarre Physics Experiments. But They Work – Anil Ananthaswamy – Quanta Magazine . “Love this, it mirrors how I use AI — as part of a collaborative conversation, an idea bouncer that comes up with many great, and many kooky ideas.” (Hugh for Alistair).  The Sudden Surges That Forge Evolutionary Trees – Jake Buehler – Quanta Magazine . “An interesting update to evolutionary theory, that it’s not slow and incremental, but rather that at the moment of forking of a species there’s a surge of adaptation.” (Hugh for Mitch). AI Apocalypse? Why Language Surrounding Tech Is Sounding Increasingly Religious – Krysta Fauria – AP News . “I have been thinking a lot and talking to peers about this idea that the future with AI is either defined as ‘utopia’ or ‘dystopia’. I’m not sure I understand why either outcome has to be so radical. Might there be a possible middle-ground… might there be an opportunity for this to be another (albeit big) disruption/transformation? With that tech leaders are using religious and apocalyptic language to describe AI, calling it ‘godlike’ or a new kind of ‘salvation’. Real words from real leaders who are real smart. Some are now warning that this kind of rhetoric fuels dangerous hype and profit motives, while others promise big benefits if AI is guided and regulated. Some religious experts say the that this trend reflects a human need for transcendence more than literal belief. Candidly, I don’t know who to believe anymore, but find the use of religious terminology fascinating when you consider that the people using it (mostly) don’t bellieve in religion…” (Mitch for Alistair). 3Books.net – Books recommended on The Ezra Klein Show . “The last question Ezra Klein asks every guest on The Ezra Klein Show is to recommend three books. Welp, somone apparently vibe-coded this helpful site to scrape the show and post them on this website. You can sort by shows, books or even go random (and yes, there’s a search function as well). Happy reading!” (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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