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 ( 6438 )
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The Underground Railroad [Media Notes 58] + Bonus Guide to Posts About Racial...
I’ve watched the first episode, “Chapter 1: Georgia”, of The Underground Railroad on Amazon Prime. I’ll not be watching more. Let me explain. After that I’ll... Read more
Posted on 02 June 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
American Democracy is in Danger
2. Democracy - bear with me - is a bit like a sandcastle. By just holding an election, you can make something super basic that looks like a democracy. Read more
Posted on 02 June 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Thoughts on Why Systems Like GPT-3 Will Always Have Trouble with Common...
I develop an analogical argument about why natural language systems trained only on text will never be able to deal with common-sense reasoning. Read more
Posted on 01 June 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Short-term Memory for AI Agents
Cool work Andrew!— Ida Momennejad (@criticalneuro) June 1, 2021 Andrew Kyle Lampinen, Stephanie C.Y. Chan, Andrea Banino, Felix Hill, Towards mental time travel... Read more
Posted on 01 June 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Formal Control of Improvised Performance [Miles Davis]
Miles Davis - Time After Time - Casino, Montreux, Switzerland, 20 July 1990 Miles Davis (tp) Kenny Garrett (as, fl) Foley (lead-b) Kei Akagi (keyb) Richard... Read more
Posted on 01 June 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Geoffrey Hinton Says Deep Learning Will Do Everything. I’m Not Sure What He...
This is updated from a previous version to include a passage by Sydney Lamb. * * * * * Late last year Geoffrey Hinton had an interview with Karen Hao [1] in... Read more
Posted on 31 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Story About Computers & Graphics in Words & Images [1984 to 2021 || Freedom...
Back in 1984 Apple released the Macintosh computer. My friend Rich sent me a letter he'd written on one, not his, someone else's. It had some prose and one... Read more
Posted on 30 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
13th Century Japanese Pictorial Scrolls
The exhibition was planned since 2020, but due to covid, it has been closed and delayed for a long time. The exhibition will finally open on 1 June to 20 June... Read more
Posted on 30 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Kafka Manuscripts and Drawings Online
Franz Kafka’s never-before-seen manuscripts and drawings go online. https://t.co/JyNYfWmCJZ pic.twitter.com/wPc2txhrET— Ted Gioia (@tedgioia) May 29, Read more
Posted on 29 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Individualism is Compatible With, Even Facilitates? Altruism
Abigail Marsh, Everyone Thinks Americans Are Selfish. They’re Wrong. NYTimes, May 26, 2021. The United States is notable for its individualism. Read more
Posted on 29 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Cobblestone Streets, Overhead Wires, and a Sticker [Hoboken]
Posted on 28 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Analyze This! Your Smart Phone Thinks You’re Dumb. [The Mitchells Vs. The...
This replaces the version I published on May 26.* * * * * I watched The Mitchells vs. the Machines the other night. Well, to tell you the truth, I didn’t watch... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Navigation Turing Test – Evaluating Human-Like Navigation
Many algorithms pass benchmarks, like navigation from a given location to a goal location in 3D games. But passing benchmarks doesn't guarantee human-like... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
AI in Ethiopia
Inventing Artificial Intelligence in Ethiopia @tylercowen https://t.co/qcgjXBzNgd— Bill Benzon, aka The Danish Space Laser (@bbenzon) May 28, 2021 Alan F. Read more
Posted on 28 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Blossoms and Flowers
Posted on 28 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Getting in the Mood for Writing [brings Back Memories]
When I was in my mid-teens I read an article about self-improvement through self-hypnosis. It was in Mechanix Illustrated (yes, that's how it was spelled),... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Time After Time: Miles in the Studio and on the Road
As I noted in a post from 2011, I was knocked out by and 1987 performance where Miles Davis played “Time After Time” (immediately following “Human Nature”) in... Read more
Posted on 27 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
You Think It, the Computer Writes It (sorta' – It's NOT Reading Your Thoughts,...
#AINews #AI #SwissCognitiveAI decodes neural signals to convert mental handwriting to text, enabling communication for patients with spinal cord injuries,... Read more
Posted on 27 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Models of the Mind @ 3 Quarks Daily [fundamentally a Work of Philosophy]
I’ve got a new post at 3 Quarks Daily: To Understand the Mind We Must Build One, A Review of Models of the Mind – Bye Bye René, Hello Giambattista. Read more
Posted on 27 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Analyze This! Your Smart Phone Thinks You’re Dumb. [The Mitchells Vs. The...
I watched The Mitchells vs. the Machines the other night. Well, to tell you the truth, I didn’t watch it in a single sitting. It took two sittings, two nights.... Read more
Posted on 26 May 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY