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 ( 6385 )
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Another Romp Around Searle's Chinese Room
First Thoughts I don't know quite what I think about that Chinese room. When I read it in Brain and Behavior Science I was puzzled. So what, thought I to myself... Read more
Posted on 18 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Soros on the Roma
Michael Steinberger profiles George Soros, the mega-biolionaire investor, philanthropist and student of Karl Popper, in the The New York Times Magazine. Read more
Posted on 18 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Spearmaster's Way of Death
Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger (1966) 178-179: Another example of death being softened by welcome, if we can put it that way, is the ritual murder by which... Read more
Posted on 17 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Continuity and Discontinuity in Literary History, H Vs. DH? (Literary Lab 4) –...
If, a few years ago, you’d asked me whether or not a half dozen scholars could have an interesting and fruitful conversation 280 characters at a time, I’d have... Read more
Posted on 16 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is It Moral to Raise Children in a Doomed World?
Roy Scranton, Raising a Child in a Doomed World, NYTimes: I cried two times when my daughter was born. First for joy, when after 27 hours of labor the little... Read more
Posted on 16 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Google AI in Ghana
Victor Asemota, CNN International: The question everyone was asking after Jeff Dean (the Google AI and Google Brain team lead) announced that Google AI Lab was... Read more
Posted on 15 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Jordan Peterson Interviews Nina Paley
Nina Paley is an animator and artist who makes unbelievably beautiful films. We discussed her life, her views, and her work, interspersing her animation... Read more
Posted on 15 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Two Books on Universal Basic Income (UBI)
Robert Reich reviews two books in the NYTimes: Annie Lowrey, GIVE PEOPLE MONEY, How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake... Read more
Posted on 15 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hasui Kawase, Japanese Print-maker
#TheNewPaintingHasui Kawase (川瀬 巴水 Kawase Hasui, May 18, 1883 – Nov 7, 1957) was a Japanese artist. He was one of the most... Read more
Posted on 14 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Wild Art in Jersey City
Posted on 13 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Training Your Mind, Michael Nielsen on Anki and Human Augmentation
Michael Nielsen, an AI researcher at Y Combinator Research, has written a long essay, Augmenting Long-term Memory, which is about Anki, a computer-based tool fo... Read more
Posted on 13 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Innovative Governance, Side-slipping the Nation-state
Mark Lutter, Local Governments Are Changing the World, Cato Unbound, July 11, 2018. The innovative governance movement is interested in improving governance... Read more
Posted on 12 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Changizi on What the Arts Reveal About the Mind
Tim Horvath interviews Mark Changizi: TH: Stepping back for a moment, how do you conceive of the relationship between the arts and sciences in general? Read more
Posted on 11 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Interpreting Melania’s Jacket [#melaniasjacket #melania]
Do you really think a former model going out in front of cameras doesn’t consider her clothing a statement? #melaniasjacket pic.twitter. Read more
Posted on 10 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
"Positivism", "German Idealism" and Method in the Humanities (and Sciences) [#DH]
Dear friends who call all forms of empirical inquiry "positivism": I have given up trying to nuance your account of history and will instead advance mutual... Read more
Posted on 09 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hedging THE EVENT: Yes, the Super-rich Are Different from You and Me, They...
Douglas Rushkoff was recently paid "about half my annual professor’s salary " to talk with "five super-wealthy guys — yes, all... Read more
Posted on 06 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Eric Weinstein Sees the Need for Hypercapitalism Linked with Hypersocialism
Sean Illing interviews Eric Weinstein (who, incidentally, coined the term the "intellectual dark web") in Vox. From the introduction: Weinstein’s thinking... Read more
Posted on 05 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Beyond the 'two Cultures'
Jennifer Summit and Blakey Vermeule, The ‘Two Cultures’ Fallacy, The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 1, 2018. Final three paragraphs: As researchers from th... Read more
Posted on 05 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What is India, a Nation, and Empire?
Arundhati Roy, In What Language does Rain Fall over Tormented Cities?, Raiot, June 28, 2018. This is the text of the W. G. Sebald Lecture on Literary... Read more
Posted on 04 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Quick Notes on ‘meaning’ in Literary Texts
When a literary critic explicates the ‘meaning’ of a literary text, what is it that they are doing? What is the relationship between the meaning thus... Read more
Posted on 03 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY