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 ( 7846 )
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Friday Fotos: A Long Look Back, Potpourri
Posted on 03 April 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The Hegemon No Longer, the USA as One Nation Among Others
I've long thought that the situation of the post-Soviet collapse, with the USA as the dominant hegemon in the world, I've long thought that situation was... Read more
Posted on 03 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Happiness Crash of 2020
Peltzman, Sam, The Happiness Crash of 2020 (March 13, 2026). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6465460 I document a sudden, sharp and historically... Read more
Posted on 03 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How People Actually Use AI
"ChatGPT is mainly for work"Reality check: Only 27% of ChatGPT usage is work-related. 73% is personal. And the gap is widening every month.The productivity... Read more
Posted on 02 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
More This and That from March
Posted on 02 April 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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AI and Human Happiness
Tyler Cowen interviews Arthur Brooks: Arthur Brooks reckons he’s on the fourth leg of a spiral-shaped career: French horn player, economist, president of th... Read more
Posted on 02 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Anaconda (2025) is Absurd and Hilarious [Media Notes 177]
Two scenes had me laughing as hard as I’ve laughed in a year or three. Wikipedia: Anaconda is a 2025 American action-adventure comedy horror film[5] that... Read more
Posted on 02 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
AI Optimism, AI Pessimism
This is a thoughtful discussion about AI. One discussant, Mike Feinberg, is deeply skeptical. The other, Ben Wittes, is less skeptical, but still wary. Note in... Read more
Posted on 02 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Whale Ropes to the Sky [Adam Roberts]
So, after doing a bit of work this morning, I checked Facebook and saw that my buddy Adam Roberts had posted this: Off dream: I had an unfamiliar laptop, and... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Things I Saw in March
Posted on 01 April 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Claude: On the (late) Discovery of the Chess Tree and Things One Can Infer Aroun...
Late in his fourth chapter, Cowen introduces chess as an example of what contemporary AI can do. As you may know, chess has been a central interest of AI, so... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Holy Crap, Batman! Anthopic Just Showed Its a$$ to the World.
You can’t make this stuff up. Since, however, it is April 1st, I thought maybe this is a prank, it’s just so outrageous. But no, it’s real. Read more
Posted on 01 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Paradox of Contemporary AI @3QD
I’ve got another article at 3 Quarks Daily: The Paradox of Contemporary AI: Engineering Success and Institutional Failure The title pretty much encapsulates my... Read more
Posted on 31 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How About Some Light on the Subject
Posted on 31 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Nasdaq Rule Change: Monkey Business Among the Techbros
Nasdaq Rule Change Would Speed Index Entry for SpaceX IPO By Theo Wayt Source: The Information Nasdaq will change a rule for its flagship stock index to allow... Read more
Posted on 31 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Can OpenAI Survive the Results of Its Technical Success? Is the AI Startup Era...
Is OpenAI running out of money? In this deep dive, we break down OpenAI's projected $14 billion annual losses, the Microsoft cloud credit illusion, the Code... Read more
Posted on 31 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
After the Protest I Went to Mickey D's
Posted on 30 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Claude: On the Origins and History of Chess, Plus a Straussian Reading of...
My examination of Tyler Cowen, The Marginal Revolution: Rise and Decline, and the Pending AI Revolution (2026), continues. While Tyler does discuss chess briefl... Read more
Posted on 30 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Physicist Vs. the Bureaucrats: Richard Feynman Testifies Before Congress...
After the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in January 1986, killing its seven crew members, President Reagan appointed a commission to investigate. Read more
Posted on 30 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Mmmmm....blueberry Pancakes
Posted on 29 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
