Kickoff For May 29, 2023

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.

Let’s get this Monday started with these links:

The Golden Age of Aerospace, wherein Brian Balkus looks at how, by combining American ingenuity and manufacturing prowess with captured Germany technology and specialists, the United States was able to make incredible progress in the field of flight in the decades after World War Two.

Hustle culture: Is this the end of rise-and-grind?, wherein Megan Carnegie explores whether the always be grinding mindset that’s taken root among far too many workers and entrepreneurs is is no longer working as the key to becoming successful.

Why You Need to Think for Yourself, wherein Michael Ignatieff examines what thinking is, how thinking deeply affects us, and where thinking (not just for ourselves) can lead us.

When the Culture Wars Come for the Public Library, wherein E. Tammy Kim looks at how divisive politics and parochial attitudes are threatening the freedoms of a library in Montana, and how that could threaten other libraries throughout the United States.

Does Our Sustainable Future Start in the Mine?, wherein Julie Michelle Klinger explains how using rare earth elements isn’t only a problem facing so-called green energy, and looks at how that problem remains even if we don’t switch to renewables.

How Japanese educators used religion to ‘make’ ideal humans, wherein we learn how an epiphany by the head of Panasonic, around a holy mission to forge better people, moved from the business world in the the public realm in Japan.

ChatGPT is a data privacy nightmare. If you’ve ever posted online, you ought to be concerned, wherein Uri Gal looks at the privacy and legal issues around how the generative AI tool collects and uses data.

How living on Mars would warp the human body, wherein we’re introduced to the potential effects a journey to, and a stay on, the Red Planet will have on the bodies and minds of the astronauts making the trip.

If Technology Only Had a Heart, wherein Sian E. Harding looks at the challenges facing the development of a viable, long-term artificial human heart.

And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.

Scott Nesbitt