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
-
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 ( 7631 )
-
Friday Fotos: Which One Doesn't Belong? [flowers]
Posted on 01 July 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
Steven Pinker and Scott Aaronson Debate Scaling
Scott Aaronson has hosted Steven Pinker to a discussion at Shtetl-Optimized. Pinker on AGI: Regarding the second, engineering question of whether scaling up... Read more
Posted on 30 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hot! Hot! Hot!
Posted on 30 June 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
Gary Marcus and Our Innate Linguistic Capacity [Relational Net Primer]
During the period that I had been writing my primer on relational networks and attractor landscapes, Gary Marcus had taken to Twitter to challenge the deep... Read more
Posted on 29 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hoboken Peek-A-Boo
Posted on 29 June 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
“Kubla-Khan” in Light of the Relational Nets Primer
This is another post in my series of post-Relational-Net-Primer reflections. “Kubla Khan”, as I’ve explained many times, originally in this piece first publishe... Read more
Posted on 28 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Views of Pier 13 in Hoboken
Posted on 28 June 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
An Architectural Change in Transformers Can Increase the Number of...
Transformer MLP neurons are challenging to understand.We find that using a different activation function (Softmax Linear Units or SoLU) increases the fraction o... Read more
Posted on 28 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What About the Cerebellum? [in Response to LeCun]
Exciting - will have to read it! What about the cerebellum? It contains more neurons than the rest of the brain combined! Recently we proposed that it provides... Read more
Posted on 28 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
3 Hudson River Views
Posted on 27 June 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
Deus Ex Machina: A Science Fiction Story in Which Robots and AIs Conspire to Sav...
This would the utopian flip side to the more common story in which AIs and robots turn on humans. What would such a story be like, and why do it? Read more
Posted on 27 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
GPT-3 is Confused About Ducks, Chickens, and Eggs
Mark Liberman reports some puzzling conversations with GPT-3. The first conversation:Me: Do ducks lay eggs?GTP-3: Yes, ducks lay eggs.Me: What do you mean by... Read more
Posted on 27 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Robin Hanson Doesn't Worry About Rogue AIs Destroying Humanity
Nor do I. I find his reasoning convincing. Here's a chunk: I don’t see why I should be much more worried about your losing control of your firm, or army, to an... Read more
Posted on 26 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Saturday on West 14th St. in Manhattan
Posted on 26 June 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
More Post-Publication Thoughts on the RNA Primer
This is a follow-up to a previous post: Some Post-Publication Thoughts on the RNA Primer [Design for a Mind]. Expect more follow-up posts. Read more
Posted on 26 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
10-fold Expansion of Interneuron-to-interneuron Networks in the Human Brain...
What makes us human, at the neuronal network level? We discovered a dramatic (10-fold) expansion of interneuron-to-interneuron networks in the human brain... Read more
Posted on 26 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
“Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, Old Style, New Style
This is one of my favorite tunes, ever. Don’t even know if I recognized it as a blues when I first heard it. Do you? Don’t count it out, no fair! Read more
Posted on 25 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos (on Saturday): Friday's Trip to Grand Central Station
Posted on 25 June 2022
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
Heather Cox Richardson on the Current Republican Party & Its Vision of Rule by...
Heather Cox Richardson, June 24, 2022, Letters from an American. Reflecting on 2 things: At yesterday’s hearing of the House Select Committee to Investigate... Read more
Posted on 25 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How Can We Trust Artificial Agents If Big Tech Wants to Fool Us into Believing...
And while we're here, more evidence of how Silicon Valley has entirely missed the point of speculative fiction. pic.twitter.com/JJ66zOPAAp— Emily M. Read more
Posted on 23 June 2022 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
