👨🏼🚀Five Link Friday #2
The human condition post-covid, AlphaGo revisited, blockchains, Microsoft's security firepower and 2021's next big thing.
Hi Friends 👋🏼
Let me start off with: Happy New Year to you and yours. I hope the first few hours of 2021 have been treating you well!
I’m sure most of you, either consciously or subconsciously have made new year resolutions for yourselves. I’ve made a couple too, including not missing a single week of Five Link Fridays for length of 2021 🤣. As I think about keeping to my own resolutions, I am reminded of a quote by David Perell:
The internet rewards consistency. B+ content with A+ consistency is often a winning formula compared to A+ content with B+ consistency.
While he was referring to internet content e.g newsletters like the one i’m writing now, I believe it can be applied to most aspects of life. And if you keep up the A+ consistency, it is likely that the B+ “anything” will move up to an A+ level.
Consistency is key.
So does that mean the content on this newsletter is B+? You be the judge! But don’t miss out as The Real Dil goes from B+ to A+ content by subscribing:
Let’s get to it.
Five Link Friday #2
(just in case it isn’t clear, the underlined titles are the links. Do let me know if it’s not obvious!)
🧬 The Pandemic Exposes Human Nature: 10 Evolutionary Insights
This is a fascinating research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) which crystallises some of the key changes in human nature, behaviour and biology which we are starting to observe and / or likely to see post-pandemic. And the scientific agenda moving forward based on that.
♟️ AlphaGo Documentary
If you haven’t watched this, trust me, you won't be disappointed. In March 2016, DeepMind’ AI project, AlphaGo beat the best Go player of the last decade, Lee Sedol 4-1 to much fanfare. I went into the documentary fascinated by the technology and excited to see it best humanity at its most complex board game but I left it feeling like we (humanity) lost something more than the tournament, something I could not put into words. It didn’t help that Lee was a such a skilled but humble, apologetic and soft spoken representative of of humans.
One of the more interesting quotes by a member of the AlphaGo team:
For us AlphaGo is just some computer program, but looking at the commentary and the internet, the commentators started calling AlphaGo 'He' and 'She' during the games, completely unconsciously. AlphaGo is really a very very simple program, its nowhere close to full AI and we already see that happening so I found that very interesting.
🏦 What has Blockchain ever done for us
My hands were tied y’all. How could I not include a bitcoin related link when its breaking All Time Highs 🚀? But before you go latching yourself onto the crypto rocketship, it's best to educate yourself why you're doing it. Or if you're one of them skeptics instead, this post by Balaji puts forward a strong argument that the benefits are already here, not decades away (like some might argue). It was originally written in 2018 but the points remain extremely relevant today.
⚔️ Microsoft unleashes the “Death Star” on Solar Winds hackers
Looking at a massive company like Microsoft, one might be lulled into thinking its a slow moving, bureaucratic, red tape covered beast. This post shows you how when it needs to be, "Microsoft can still muster firepower like no one else as a nearly-overwhelming force for good".
📈 The next big thing in 2021 is . . .
Predictions, smidictions. Sure most of them turn out wrong but it does help me catalyse observations I may have had floating around in my mind. Why not hear some from some of the people who are leading the charge to build and fund the future. Here @nbt has asked some of the best thinkers in technology to finish the sentence: "The next big thing in 2021 is ..."
As an individual trying to do my own thing, my favourite prediction was by Blake Robbins at Ludlow Ventures:
The next big thing in 2021 is fully embracing the value of personal brands and individuality. This decade will be defined by arming individuals with the tools to succeed.
Hope you found those links as mentally stimulating as I did. As always, if you're finding this newsletter interesting, give me your feedback; you can respond to this email or tweet at me!
If you’re not subscribed, come join your fellow curious and intelligent friends by subscribing:
If you’re already a subscriber, don’t forget to tell share the joy with your friends who you think might also enjoy the content :)