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:

• How To Fix Grocery Stores – Smartypants Presentation – Dropout – YouTube. “Smartypants is like Ignite but for comedy, and reminds me a lot of the talks at Bitnorth. Here’s Hank Green ranting about something that drives me insane: the inconsistent ontologies and organizations of grocery stores. No two stores are the same, they’re hard to navigate and there’s no structured method to it. Can we fix that? Cue Hank with a Dewey Decimal System for your local supermarket.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• I Tried To Make Something In America (The Smarter Scrubber Experiment) – Smarter Every Day 308 – YouTube. “It’s easy to say ‘bring manufacturing home.’ But as Destin Sandlin at Smarter Every Day showed in a four year experiment, it’s really hard to do. He breaks down the history of globalization, structural incentives, and how we got here – and then why it’s hard to correct course even with the greatest political will. Amazing communicator doing compelling work, instead of resorting to short soundbites and political slogans.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• China unveils mosquito-sized microdrone for battlefield reconnaissance – Straight Arrow News – YouTube. “What a world.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Chinese Cars Are The Ones To Beat – Joann Muller – Axios. “In 2015 China introduced a ‘Made in China 2025’ industrial policy, making electric vehicles the cornerstone of their plans to make China a (the?) globally dominant industrial power. Pre-2015 the strategy was joint ventures with Western companies who benefitted by reducing labour costs, while China learned. Post-2015 the mantra is more like ‘imitate, improve and increase,’ and with ~$230B in subsidies, Chinese carmakers are leaving the West in the dust. Says Elon Musk: Chinese car markers ‘will pretty much demolish’ the rest of the industry. What a world.” (Hugh for Mitch). 
• AI Slop: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – HBO – YouTube. “For those not living in the United States of America, you will need a VPN to watch this, but it’s worth it. I’m sure people no longer watch John Oliver because of his political slant? Regardless, this is a takedown on AI like only Oliver and his team can produce. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s terrifying. And in it are some true gems about the current state of what we’re creating, who it’s for, who consumes it, what they believe, and why. I don’t think you’ll be impressed. With that, I am impressed. A lot of this content resonates, which by my definition makes it creative. And by my definition, this also proves that it didn’t take long for this technology to outperform what humans can create, especially in terms of consumption/interest from humans. While most AI content is looked at through the filter of whether or not a human can tell where the mistakes are. This content, which doesn’t let you know it was created by AI, seems to be engaging enough for people not to even question it. Questions? I have many…” (Mitch for Alistair).
• If We Had A Choice, Would We Invent Social Media Again? – The Agenda – YouTube. “Big shoutout to the people at The Agenda with Steve Paiken for pulling together this panel that includes some of my favorite Tech Thinkers like Douglas Rushkoff, Cory Doctorow and Jeff Jarvis (along with Vass Bednar, whose work I was not familar with) discussing where we’re at and what happned in the past twenty plus years of social media. While most of the online rheotirc about technology these days is Artificial Intellgince, this was a breath of fresh air. A discussion (mostly) about social media… was it worth it… has it done more harm than good… how has it impatced democracy… where do we go from here? It’s an incredibly rich conversatiion that needs to be shared far and wide!” (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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