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 ( 7797 )
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The Rush to Money and IP Theft in the AI World
This level of desperation perfectly encapsulates the "monetization crisis" of the current AI paradigm. We’ve seen staggering capital injection, yet the path to ... Read more
Posted on 11 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Contemplating French Toast – Yummmm.....
Posted on 10 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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AI and the American Millennial Imagination
This morning I had a long conversation with ChatGPT 5.2 Auto. We started with the varied role of the Messiah in Jewish thought, then zeroed in on Chabad. From... Read more
Posted on 10 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Adventures in Tablescapes
Posted on 09 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The World Mostly Gets Changed Through Collective Effort.
David Marchese, Rebecca Solnit Says the Left’s Next Hero Is Already Here, NYTimes, Mar. 8, 2026. From the intro: As the old saw goes, the only constant is... Read more
Posted on 08 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Bit of Waffle + a Tablescape
Posted on 08 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Living Human Brain Cells Play DOOM on a CL1
Andrew Paul, Computer run on human brain cells learned to play ‘Doom’, Popular Science, Mar. 2, 2026. A biocomputer powered by lab-grown human brain cells has... Read more
Posted on 08 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Confluence of Crazies: The Pentagon and the Tech Bros
Robert Wright, Iran and the immortality of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, Nonzero Newsletter, Mar. 6, 2026. I'm not going to try to summarize the first... Read more
Posted on 07 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How Humanitarian Concern Became Perverted into a Justification for War [Trump...
Amanda Taub, How Good Intentions Helped Pave Trump’s Road to Iran, NYTimes, March 7, 20226. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their... Read more
Posted on 07 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sunrise Before Breakfast
Posted on 07 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Machining World First Transparent Hydraulic Press Tools
YouTube: Welcome to another exciting episode of Beyond the Press, where we take you behind the scenes of creating our unique transparent tools for our 150 ton... Read more
Posted on 06 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Government Surveillance and AI (the Pentagon Vs. Anthropic)
Ezra Klein, Why the Pentagon Wants to Destroy Anthropic, NYTimes, Mar. 6, 2026. My guest today is Dean Ball. He is a senior fellow at the Foundation for America... Read more
Posted on 06 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: 51 Pacific in Review
Posted on 06 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Hiring of Software Engineers is UP
Citadel Securities published this graph showing a strange phenomenon.Job postings for software engineers are actually seeing a massive spike.Classic example of... Read more
Posted on 06 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Discipline of Literary Criticism: A Quixotic Essay About Thinkers, Methods...
New working paper. Title above, links, abstract, contents, and introduction below. Academia.edu: Read more
Posted on 05 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sun (dirty) Snow Hoboken
Posted on 05 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Market Volatility in Asia Swings on Energy and AI
Meaghan Tobin, What the Extraordinary Market Volatility in Asia Says About Energy and A.I. NYTimes, Mar. 5, 2026. Stocks across most of Asia rallied on Thursday... Read more
Posted on 05 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Readership for Tech Media is WAY DOWN
No discussion of tech media can get past this basic traffic fact: in the AI world, Google and social no longer refer traffic, which means that the vast... Read more
Posted on 04 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The River: Across, Up, and Back
Posted on 04 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The Chinese Are Optimistic About AI, No Doomers
Vivian Wang, Where are China’s A.I. Doomers? NYTimes, Mar. 4, 2026. People in China are among the most excited in the world about A.I., according to a KPMG... Read more
Posted on 04 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
