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 ( 7356 )
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Logistics R Us, But....we're No Match for the Current Corona Virus
David Segal, What Happened to the Great American Logistics Machine? NYTimes, May 22, 2020: It was reassuring to watch leaders of Walmart, CVS, Target and... Read more
Posted on 23 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Paul Romer on What's Wrong with Economics [with Coda on What He Learned About...
From a recent conversation with Tyler Cowen (Paul Romer on a Culture of Science and Working Hard): ROMER:...but I think the lesson from the financial crisis,... Read more
Posted on 20 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Are We Grappling with Problems Beyond Our Conceptual Means? [counterfeit...
I take the question from the final chapter, of David Hays, The Evolution of Technology Through Four Cognitive Ranks (1993). In section 8. Read more
Posted on 20 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Has Joe Rogan Just Made a Deal with the Devil?
As you may know, Rogan has just made a deal to have his podcast distributed exclusively on Spotify. Matt Stoller is worried. Yesterday audio streaming giant... Read more
Posted on 20 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Identity Poitics: Robert Wright Talks with Ezra Klein
Quick take: Klein makes a useful distinction between identity and policy as the basis for politics. Policy can be and generally always is negotiated. Identity... Read more
Posted on 20 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
May Flowers
Posted on 17 May 2020
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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What’s Up? Alternative Hollywood History [Media Notes 32]
I watched Netflix’s Hollywood a week ago and enjoyed it; lots of fun, though draggy here and there, and a bit soapy, too, if you catch my drift. It attracted a... Read more
Posted on 15 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
We'll Meet Again.... [apocalypse Then and Now?]
Friends and neighbors during the current pandemic on VE Day 2020 in Britain: Following the Queen's address, people were invited to stand on their doorsteps and... Read more
Posted on 15 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Technological Change and Leisure Activity
Łukasz Rachel, Leisure-enhancing technological change, VOX, CEPR Policy Portal, 24 May 2019. Our time, attention, and data are central in today’s economy. Read more
Posted on 13 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Neural Coordination of Sleep
It’s great to watch science progress. Three years ago, we had a post a bemoaning that no one understood what a brain region called the claustrum actually does. Read more
Posted on 13 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Microcircuit Geometry and Cortical Neural Networkss
Neuron Geometry Underlies Universal Network Features inCortical Microcircuits | https://t.co/IkZM7FCCJc | sweet pic.twitter.com/e3qt8VVU0s — Alexandros Goulas... Read more
Posted on 13 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Facebook Oversight Board
This is a discussion of Facebook's newly established oversight board. It is hosted by Ben Wittes, of Lawfare, and Kate Klonick, pf St. John's University School... Read more
Posted on 12 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Are We Seeing the Beginnings of a New World Order in Which Mid-sized Nations Tak...
Damien Cave and Isabella Kwai, China Is Defensive. The U.S. Is Absent. Can the Rest of the World Fill the Void? The New York Times, May 11, 2020: Confronting a... Read more
Posted on 11 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What Has Elon Musk Been Smoking? No, Elon, You're Not Developing Technology...
In a recent conversation with Joe Rogan Elon Musk said his company, Neuralink, is developing technology that may well make language obsolete. Read more
Posted on 09 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
"Lord of the Flies" Got It Wrong
I can't begin to tell you how much this has uplifted my spirits. https://t.co/5iLjCKg6de — aviramh (@aviramh) May 9, 2020 From the article: Then, on the eighth... Read more
Posted on 09 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Dan Wang on Why America Can't Build
Dan Wang, Why America Can Make Semiconductors But Not Swabs, Bloomberg Opinion, May 7, 2020. Much critical knowledge cannot be written down. It exists only in... Read more
Posted on 08 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Speech Rhythms Adn Their Neural Foundations
"Speech rhythms and their neural foundations" A new review and perspective by @FlorAssaneo and me. Relevant to cogneuro, speech, linguistics, action-perception... Read more
Posted on 08 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Coronavirus, Building, and the Future @3QD [Andreessen, Disney, and Others]
Take me to the future My most recent piece in 3 Quarks Daily: Can the pandemic serve America as the cradle for a rebirth of civil society? As I was lying in... Read more
Posted on 06 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Walt Disney, Technology, and the Future [a Documentary Film]
I've been thinking a lot about Walt Disney's influence on our sense of progress and the future. I'm exploring the idea that, during the 1950s and 1960s, Disney... Read more
Posted on 05 May 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
May Flowers
Posted on 05 May 2020
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
