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 ( 6433 )
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The King, Part II: Don’t Mess with the Bard [Media Notes 14]
As you can see, I’ve been exchanging note with Adam Roberts on Twitter. For example: "adds nothing" – Yes! Shakespeare's Falstaff does (at least) 2 things: 1) H... Read more
Posted on 03 November 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What I've Always Wanted, a Full-automatic Crossbow. I Am Speechless. I Am...
And I can't wait to see this guy produce a full suit of armor complete with a jetpack. That'll save the lives of many horses. I can see it now. We're at... Read more
Posted on 03 November 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The King: Netflix Does Falstaff, Hal, and Henry V [Media Notes 13]
I cruised over to Netflix late yesterday afternoon (Friday, November 1) and saw lo and behold! they were pushing a new Netflix original movie, The King. Read more
Posted on 02 November 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Ontology of Horror
David Livingstone Smith, The Metaphysics of Horror, IAI News, Oct. 31, 2019: Notice that Machen said that if you encountered a singing rose you would be... Read more
Posted on 02 November 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What’s up with Tulsi? Is She a Great Soul?
Matt Lewis reports that he’s seen a poll in which Gabbard is up over 5% and has overtaken Kamala Harris, ending her run at the nomination. 3rd party run? Read more
Posted on 01 November 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Bare-bones Experiment on Interpersonal Interaction [from the Ancient Days,...
I got my PhD is in English at SUNY Buffalo, but I get my deepest education from David Hays in Linguists. Hays got his PhD in Social Relations from Harvard in... Read more
Posted on 01 November 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Roscoe Mitchell, Visionary
Roscoe Mitchell’s Next Phase: “My dream is to go smaller and smaller, so I can have a big coat with a lot of pockets so I can pull out small instruments.” -... Read more
Posted on 01 November 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Exotia [hallucinated City]
Posted on 01 November 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Protests Can Be Joyous!
Lebanon is not stopping! Making protests into incredible, fun events is looking like a winning strategy. pic.twitter.com/42ASFXTikT — Joshua Potash 🆘... Read more
Posted on 01 November 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
We're Really Quick to Recognize Familiar Music
Your Brain Takes Just 100 To 300 Milliseconds To Recognize Familiar Music https://t.co/JxQY2TmzKC #NameThatTune pic.twitter.com/nHzYJNEmfW — Sciencebeta... Read more
Posted on 31 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Halloween Birthday Bear with Naked Man and Strange Creatures [from the Wayquay...
Posted on 31 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why Computation, What Does It, Mostly the Idea, Bring to Literary Study?
Connection: It is a means of linking literary investigation to a wider intellectual world. Bear with me for a moment, I’ll get there. Read more
Posted on 31 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Brain-to-brain Communication Over the Internet
Linxing Jiang, Andrea Stocco, Darby M. Losey, Justin A. Abernethy, Chantel S. Prat Rajesh, BrainNet: A Multi-Person Brain-to-Brain Interface for Direct... Read more
Posted on 31 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Hallucinated City: Sandy + Seven
Posted on 30 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
In the Case of Harold Bloom
Right, the measure of a text's greatness is its ability to attract dogmatic unsupported assertions. It's called richness. The more dogs that chase after a... Read more
Posted on 30 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Rising Expectations...protests...progress?
De Tocqueville: actual progress fails to meet rising expectations resulting in unrest and even revolution. — Bill Benzon (@bbenzon) October 28, 2019 Tyler... Read more
Posted on 30 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
About Those California Wild Fires...
7. State's electricity system has been responding to all sorts of demands for all sorts of things. Equity, low rates, renewable energy, efficiency,... Read more
Posted on 29 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Description and the Teleome, Part 2
To see why I'm bumping this seven year old post to the top of the queue, read its companion, linked in the first paragraph below. Read more
Posted on 29 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Deep Learning, the Teleome, and Description
From seven years ago, I'm bumping this to the top because the topic is on my mind these days: Why do the human sciences need rich, and objective, descriptions o... Read more
Posted on 29 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Does It Make Sense to See the California Blackouts as an Effect of Inequality, a...
I wonder how many of the executives (and board members?) who made this decision will feel the effects themselves? Two days ago Tyler Cowen had a post, The... Read more
Posted on 29 October 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY