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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From Simon’s Ant to Machine Learning, a Parable
Simon’s ant is a well-known thought experiment from Chapter 3, “The Psychology of Thinking: Embedding Artifice in Nature,” in Herbert A. Simon (1981), The... Read more
Posted on 04 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Remember the Sabbath...[a Different World]
Ezra Klein, Sabbath and the Art of Rest, NYTimes, December 3, 2022. From the introduction: Do we know how to truly rest? Who would we be if we did? Read more
Posted on 03 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
"Mondrian" House Along the River in Hoboken
Posted on 03 January 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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On the Naturalistic Study of the Linguistic Behavior of Artificial Intelligence
This is draft material from the introduction of a working paper I’m about to finish: Discursive Competence in ChatGPT, Part 1: Talking with Dragons. Read more
Posted on 03 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Does a Manned Mission to Mars Make Sense?
Michael Ceglowski, Why Not Mars, Idle Words, 1.1.23. Like watching paint peel: The buildup to Mars would not look like Apollo, but a long series of ISS-like... Read more
Posted on 02 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Half-way Through My Eighth Decade: What Next?
At the end of 2017 I wrote a post in which I reflected back on my intellectual life, Reflections on entering my eighth decade and why it portends to be the... Read more
Posted on 02 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
India Rising on the World Stage
Roger Cohen, Russia’s War Could Make It India’s World, NYTimes, Dec. 31, 2022. The article opens: Seated in the domed, red sandstone government building unveile... Read more
Posted on 02 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Color Play for the New Year
Posted on 02 January 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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AI DEBATE 3: The AGI Debate [hosted in Montreal]
The Pivotal Discussion in Shaping the Path of AGI's Global Discourse. Five panels of the world's most distinguished researchers and experts on AGI : Panel 1:... Read more
Posted on 02 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sabine Hossenfelder on the Possibility of Human Extinction
Correction to what I say at 11 mins 50 seconds: A supervolcano eruption ejects more than 1000 cubic kilometers of matter (not 1000 cubic meters). Sorry about... Read more
Posted on 01 January 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
From Yesterday's Walk in the Fog
Posted on 01 January 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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One World Center, Sea Gulls, a Train Coming into the Station [and a Blue Mug, Wh...
Posted on 31 December 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The Revered ChatGPT on Facing the Prospect of a World Teeming with Intelligent...
From a certain perspective, the release of ChatGPT may be the most important thing that happened this year. I’m not saying that I endorse this perspective, but ... Read more
Posted on 31 December 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: The Mystery Train from Hoboken to Acme [Hallucinated City]
Posted on 30 December 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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It’s Time to Trade the Rikers Island Jail in for a Casino Complex
Neil Barsky, Where’s the Best Place to Build a Casino in New York City?, The New York Times, December 29, 2022. On the one hand New York City must close down th... Read more
Posted on 30 December 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hippocampal Time Cells
Ever wonder why your #brain can replay certain sequences of events in exquisite detail? It's all thanks to #TimeCells - specialized #neurons located in the... Read more
Posted on 29 December 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Colorfull Little House on the Waterfront
Posted on 29 December 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Yejin Choi on Common Sense and Value Pluralism in AI
David Marchese, An A.I. Pioneer on What We Should Really Fear, NYTimes, December 21, 2022. Common sense Can you explain what “common sense” means in the... Read more
Posted on 29 December 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Geoffrey Hinton Predicts the Evolution of "neuromorphic" Computers That Are...
We will see a completely new type of computer, says AI pioneer Geoff Hinton https://t.co/4TffDqbQyZ via @ZDNET @TiernanRayTech— Bill Benzon, BAM! Read more
Posted on 28 December 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Wheels and Wheels, Muller Insurance in Hoboken
Posted on 28 December 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
