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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1/6 is an Unmistakable Sign That the Tectonic Plates of American Society Are...
00:00 Glenn Show 2.0 and reactions to the storming of the Capitol06:42 What if it was BLM protesters that stormed the Capitol? Read more
Posted on 22 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Five Pieces (7), Five Walls [under the Thruway]
Posted on 22 January 2021
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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David Bruce on Rhythm in Music: Language, Micro-rhythm
The nature of language rhythm affects rhythmic pratice in speakers of a language Have you ever wondered whether the way you speak, the language and the... Read more
Posted on 21 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
About Sea Shanties, an Musical and Historical Analysis [Adam Neely is Very Good]
I've now turned this into a PDF file which you can download here: https://www.academia.edu/37815917/Mind-Culture_Coevolution_Major_Trans... In the early 1970s... Read more
Posted on 20 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Secret of Swing Unveiled?
I've now turned this into a PDF file which you can download here: https://www.academia.edu/37815917/Mind-Culture_Coevolution_Major_Trans... In the early 1970s... Read more
Posted on 20 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
“Spontaneous Combustion” at the Capitol Building on Jan 6
Sociologist Keiran Healy has a fascinating conjectural account of what happened at the Capitol Building on January 6, 2020: From the moment he knew he’d lost th... Read more
Posted on 11 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Software Mediation of Everything is One of the MAJOR Challenges Facing Human...
In 2012 I participated in a small group discussion led by @doctorow. I chanced into it, but he painted a picture I've thought about often in the years since, an... Read more
Posted on 11 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Trump's Cybernetic Circle: Twitter and Television
Maggie Haberman, Stripped of Twitter, Trump Faces a New Challenge: How to Command Attention, NYTimes, Jan. 10, 2021: In some way, television became the medium... Read more
Posted on 11 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Stroming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, Comparing It to...
My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week's attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/blOy35LWJ5— Arnold... Read more
Posted on 10 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Things Hidden
Posted on 10 January 2021
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Gamers, Breakers, and Lies [about the Violence of Jan 6]
From Timothy Snyder, "The American Abyss", NYTimes, Jan 9, 2021: In this sense, the responsibility for Trump’s push to overturn an election must be shared by a... Read more
Posted on 10 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Are Song Lyrics Becoming Simpler?
Interesting! We did a much simpler analysis (we just checked for the types/tokens ration - it was not our main point) but we did not find this effect.... Read more
Posted on 08 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hey Kids! Let's Put on a Show! [The Day the Capitol Was Captured by Must-see TV]
Politics is always performative, but the nature of the performance has changed dramatically in just a few years. What we saw today was the sudden, violent... Read more
Posted on 07 January 2021 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ray Bradbury and the Emergence of Science Fiction in Mid-century America
Sam Weller and Dana Gioia discuss the impact of Ray Bradbury in the Los Angeles Review of Books.Weller: Is there any way to measure Ray’s impact on popular... Read more
Posted on 29 December 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
City Lights on the Sly, Round and Round [blue Sky Night]
Posted on 28 December 2020
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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What's up with GPT-3, Neural Nets, and Machine Learning?
This is a long rambling discussion, over three hours. But useful. Pro, con, down the middle, you name it. Dip in an out as you see fit. Connor Leahy, for... Read more
Posted on 25 December 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
City in the Distance
Posted on 24 December 2020
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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DeepMind's MuZero
MuZero, which was first introduced in a preliminary paper in 2019, masters Go, chess, shogi and Atari without needing to be told the rules, thanks to its abilit... Read more
Posted on 24 December 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Mapping Characters in the Gospels [digital Humanities]
These visualizations have been lying around on my hard drive for over 7 years, what better time than Christmas to share them? 🎅 They come from a 2013... Read more
Posted on 24 December 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Seinfeld Likes the Marx Brothers [so Do I]
The NYTimes just ran a piece where Jerry Seinfeld talks about his current reading: “So the book that’s on my stand right now that I’m really, really enjoying... Read more
Posted on 20 December 2020 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
