Bbenzon
Description
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 ( 7628 )
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Six Versions of "Unchain My Heart," a Lesson in Comparative Funkology
It's Ray Charle's song. Here's a live version from 1964. Note the quick tempo: Here's some local musicians somewhere in the USA about 10 years ago. Read more
Posted on 30 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Our Robot Overlords Have Landed. They Treat Us Like Machines and Fire Us...
Elizabeth Spiers, Layoffs by Email Show What Employers Really Think of Their Workers, NYTimes, Jan. 29, 2023. Halfway through: Perhaps the most appalling... Read more
Posted on 29 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
When Should You Use ChatGPT?
A simple algorithm to decide whether to use ChatGPT, based on my recent article (https://t.co/tTzD0RAM0M) pic.twitter.com/rs9vr1lAvI— Aleksandr Tiulkanov... Read more
Posted on 29 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Being a Girl, a Geisha, a Wife, a Mother, and a YouTuber [Kimono Mom]
I talked too much late at night | Q A Early in this video, Moe talks about her relationship with Sutan and her philosophy of childrearing. Here is her central... Read more
Posted on 28 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Waiting for the C Train
Posted on 28 January 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Is the "civilized" World Afflicted with “workism”?
Ross Douthat, Is ‘Workism’ Dooming Civilization? Notes on the New Pew Parents Study. NYTimes, Jan. 27, 2023. Seven paragraphs in: On the other hand, when you as... Read more
Posted on 28 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
BibleGPT
What if you could talk to the Bible?Try now: https://t.co/sL7dtiyneDDescribe your situation or ask a question! Cites specific verses from the Bible. Works in... Read more
Posted on 27 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Taking Stock of Your Life, Backstage, Who's More Nervous? [Kimono Mom]
Starting at c. 0:28: Moe: This is Mr. Nakajima the head of KUDEN. KUDEN is a stage where you can talk about your life experiences in 15 minutes. Many famous... Read more
Posted on 27 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Beyond ChatGPT: The Return of Secretaries, in the Fullest Sense [my Mother Worke...
Hollis Robbins, Secretary jobs in the age of AI, guesting in Noahpinion, Jan. 17, 2023. Opening paragraphs: The ‘secretary’ literally means ‘person entrusted... Read more
Posted on 27 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: An Eclectic Mix from the Last Few Weeks [cosmos|hallucinated City]
Posted on 27 January 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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How the Chatster Conjured up a Fake Citation, Step by Step
ChatGPT is based on a language model, which assigns a probability distribution over sequences of words. A rough way to think about it: Given the start of a... Read more
Posted on 27 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Japan is Changing, Female Employment Increasing [Kimono Mom]
Noah Smith has an interesting article about how Japan has changed since the 1990s, Actually, Japan has changed a lot (Jan 24). Read more
Posted on 26 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Let's Remember April [cherry Blossoms, Leaves, and Wires]
Posted on 25 January 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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There’s Truth, Lies, and There’s ChatGPT [Realms of Being]
ChatGPT has no sense of ground truth. It will make things up. I ran into that problem when I asked it to summarize Heart of Darkness. Read more
Posted on 25 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Kimono Post [Kimono Mom]
Though we think of the kimono as somehow symbolic of (traditional) Japan, very few Japanese women wear them regularly – sometimes on special occasions once or... Read more
Posted on 25 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Just So You Know, GPT's Chatster is Not the Only Game in Town
To be clear: I'm not criticizing OpenAI's work nor their claims.I'm trying to correct a *perception* by the public the media who see chatGPT as this incredibl... Read more
Posted on 24 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Bacon, Butter, and Lingonberries
Posted on 24 January 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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A High-performance Speech Neuroprosthesis
Our new pre-print is out today! We demonstrate a brain-computer interface that turns speech-related neural activity into text, enabling a person with paralysis... Read more
Posted on 24 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How About a Mugging?
Posted on 24 January 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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ChatGPT Intimates a Tantalizing Future; Its Core LLM is Organized on Multiple...
I've got a new working paper, title above, abstract, contents, introduction, and conclusion below. Academia.edu: https://www.academia. Read more
Posted on 24 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
