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 ( 6486 )
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Automated Grading
By now you've probably read, in one context or another, about the use of computers to grade essay questions. And perhaps you've asked yourself, "How's that... Read more
Posted on 14 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Graffiti: It's the Name That Does It
Henry Chalfant, one of the first to document graffiti, says:"The irony is I think it's the name, the writing your name, which caused it to become universally... Read more
Posted on 11 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Empaths and Gangstas
An old post about an episode from the original Star Trek–"The Empath"–and what it tells us about the cultural psychodynamics of racism.Back in 1988 Jesse Jackso... Read more
Posted on 10 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Neuroaesthetics?
Conway BR, Rehding A (2013) Neuroaesthetics and the Trouble with Beauty. PLoS Biol 11(3): e1001504. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001504Note that here... Read more
Posted on 08 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Animated Acting: Sporn on Tytla
Vladimir Tytla was one of the great Disney animators. He was just before the era of the so-called "nine old men," but is arguably better than any of them. Read more
Posted on 08 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Animated Acting
We all know that Marlon Brando was a Method actor, and that The Method has roots in the work of the Russian director, Stanislavski. You know who else was a... Read more
Posted on 07 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Skepticism About Obama's Brain Project
"When you look at the cerebellum it's a godawful mess" says Randy Gallistel, and its circuitry is very regular. Some remarks at blogginheads.tv:BTW, the whole... Read more
Posted on 07 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Citizen Science, That Means YOU
Science isn't just for scientists. It's for all of us. Here's a study of 11,000 citizen scientists involved with a single project:Galaxy Zoo: Motivations of... Read more
Posted on 05 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Indiana Philosophy "Ontology" Project
Here's the link. It takes you to the front door.I've put "ontology" in scare quotes because the term is used as it is in computer science, which is not quite it... Read more
Posted on 05 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Frog Up Ponyo Sita: Complacency Vs. Vision
An old post in which I talk about Disney (The Princess and the Frog), Pixar (Up), Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea), and Nina Paley (Sits Sings... Read more
Posted on 05 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What Bryant Knows About Mary, Sorta: More on Color and Consciousness
The Bryant I have in mind is, of course, Levi Bryant, who has come in for severe criticism on this blog. And Mary, of course, is the fictional Mary invented by... Read more
Posted on 03 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is Hyperactivity for Real?
The opening paragraphs of an article in The New York Times:Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Slavery and Capitalism in 19th Century America
Walter Johnson, in The New York Times:Every year, British merchant banks advanced millions of pounds to American planters in anticipation of the sale of the... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Syhchronizing Chimps?
I my thinking about music I have emphasized the simple fact that it involves close synchronization with others. As such synchrony seems neurally simple–fireflie... Read more
Posted on 30 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Musician's Journal: The Magic of the Bell
This experience has had a profound effect on how I think about music. I used a reworked version to open the second chapter of Beethoven's Anvil: Music in Mind... Read more
Posted on 30 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Many Genes Are Completely New Inventions and Not Just Modified Copies of Old...
Summary (from Phys.Org):It is easier to copy something than to develop something new - a principle that was long believed to also apply to the evolution of... Read more
Posted on 27 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Individual Differences in Human Brains
We're wired differently. Surprise! Surprise!Although most of our brains are wired pretty similarly in areas that deal with sensory stimuli like sound and vision... Read more
Posted on 25 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Tug of Intuition, Or, Intuition as Reason Smasher
I keep thinking about the role of intuition in our thought processes. Here's a passage from a recent NYTimes piece discussing two thought experiments about... Read more
Posted on 24 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sakaki Rides a Dolphin
This is one of the more popular posts at New Savanna, and it's about one of my favorite anime series. Enjoy.I want to describe what happens in a brief scene... Read more
Posted on 22 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Liquid Tone: Lena Horne on Music
Over the years I’ve been collecting anecdotes about the inner workings of music, especially about feelings and about moments of transcendence. Read more
Posted on 21 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY