Bbenzon
Humankind got its start on the African savannas some hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years ago. At various times in our cultural history we’ve moved to distinctly new cultural ground, as it were. And so we are moving now, and have been for the past half century. This blog is how I see that move. Intellectually, I'm broadly interested in culture and the brain. Within that compass, anything could show up here. Literature and films (including animation), certainly, music as well, and graffiti. But, other things may show up as well. It's a blog, don't you know, it moves.
MY BLOGS
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New Savanna
http://new-savanna.blogspot.com/
Humankind got its start on the African savannas some hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years ago. At various times in our cultural history we’ve moved to distinctly new cultural ground, as it were. And so we are moving now, and have been for the past half century. This blog is how I see that move. I'm broadly interested in culture and the brain. Within that compass, anything could show up here. Literature and films (including animation), certainly, music as well, and graffiti. But, other things may show up as well. It's a blog, don't you know, it moves.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 6295 )
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GPT, the Magical Collaboration Zone, Lex Fridman and Sam Altman
I was making one more run around the web before I buckled down and got back to a major writing task, when I came across the brand-spanking-new conversation... Read more
Posted on 18 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Clementines and Acorn Squash
Posted on 18 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Two Thoughts About Being Human During the Coming AI Apocalypse
One problem doesn’t compute, the other does. Why? Human specialness Scott Aaronson worries: The Problem of Human Specialness in the Age of AI. I don’t get it. I... Read more
Posted on 18 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
An Alternative to Generative Grammar Formalisms
Geoffrey Keith Pullum, Theorizing about the Syntax of Human Language: A Radical Alternative to Generative Formalisms, Cadernos de Linguística 1(1):01-33, July... Read more
Posted on 18 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The AI Marketplace is Cooling Down
Anissa Gardizy and Aaron Holms, Amazon, Google Quietly Tamp Down Generative AI Expectations, The Information, March 12, 2024.The article begins: In the past... Read more
Posted on 18 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Michael Moschen Performs THE TRIANGLE
From 2007: Master juggler Michael Moschen performs his incredibly famous, jaw-dropping piece where three balls and a triangle become a musical and visual work o... Read more
Posted on 17 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What We Can Learn from Toddlers About Well-being
Jancee Dunn, Who Has the Secret to Well-Being? The Answer May Surprise You. NYTimes, Mar. 17, 2024. From the article: Try positive self-talk. Read more
Posted on 17 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Today's Lunch, The Little Grocery, Hoboken
Posted on 17 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
On the Street [Hoboken]
Posted on 16 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ellington's Version of Jazz History in 3 Minutes & 45 Seconds
Jazz scholar Lewis Porter has an interesting post featuring an all-but-forgotten composition in which Ellington runs down the history of jazz in three+ minutes. Read more
Posted on 16 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How to Power the AIs. It's a Crazy New World.
Casey Handmer's Blog, How to Feed the AIs, March 12, 2024. AIs use a LOT of power. Producing that power is one thing. Getting it to the AIs is another. Read more
Posted on 15 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: The Saucer Has Landed [New Park in Hoboken]
Posted on 15 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
First Flowers
Posted on 14 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
First Knight [Media Notes 115]
Watched it over two sessions on the previous two days. First Knight (1995) is yet another retelling of the King Arthur story. Sean Connery is a... Read more
Posted on 14 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Andreessen on Open Source AI
From American Needs More Techno-Optimism, a conversation between Marc Andreessen and Tyler Cowen. Tyler: Why is open-source AI in particular important for... Read more
Posted on 14 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Trees, and the Sun
Posted on 14 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Review of Empirical Research into Musical Grooves [Born to Groove]
I just got off the phone with Charlie Keil. He told me about a recent review of the empirical literature on the groove: Takahide Etani, Akito Miura, Satoshi... Read more
Posted on 13 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Are You Sure About That?
Posted on 13 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Multi-tasking and Its Vicissitudes [consciousness]
Anna Borges, A Multitasker’s Guide to Regaining Focus, NYTimes, March 11, 2024. Doing a single task: First, “multitask” itself is typically a misnomer. Read more
Posted on 13 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Night and Day
Posted on 13 March 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY