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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It's the Light
Posted on 29 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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About That Funding Freeze – It's Stupid, Careless, and Cruel
Let's be clear, I do not like Donald Trump, and I certainly did not vote for him. Yet not too long ago I posted, The Vibes They Are a-Shiftin', in which I... Read more
Posted on 29 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
I Talk Loony Tunes with John McWhorter @3QD
I’ve got a new piece at 3 Quarks Daily: John McWhorter and I Talk About Cartoons That went up yesterday. Today Brooks Riley followed up with this: There's a... Read more
Posted on 29 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
MAGA’s Big Tech Divide
That's an article in the NYTimes by Ezra Klein in which he interviews James Pogue. I asked Claude 3.5 to summarize it. * * * * * I’d like you to summarize the... Read more
Posted on 28 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The DeepSeek Breakthrough – What’s It Mean? [On the Difference Between...
Frankly, at the moment I’m inclined to think it means that Silicon Valley just got handed its lunch. Strutting around about AGI this, $500 billion that...... Read more
Posted on 28 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Four Versions of "She's Not There"
The fourth version is the one we played in "The Saint Matthew Passion," a band I played in back in 1970-71 or so.* Were were a rock band with horns, trumpet,... Read more
Posted on 27 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Old Neighborhood in Jersey City
Posted on 27 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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I Was on the Web Before the New York Times Was, Me and Cuda Brown at Meanderings
Megan DeTrolio tells the story about how The New York Times got its domain name, and from one of its own reporters. On Jan. 22, 1996, in an article tucked away... Read more
Posted on 27 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Have the Chinese Taken the Lead in LLM Sweepstakes? [with Commentary by Dread...
Unbelievable results, feels like a dream—our R1 model is now #1 in the world (with style control)! đđ Beyond... Read more
Posted on 26 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Photos I've Recently Worked on
Posted on 26 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Ramble for 2025: Music, 3-year Plan, Photos, LLMs, Great Critics
Lots to do. Music As I recently noted, I’ve recently subscribed to YouTube music AND I’m lovin’ it. It’s a pleasure to be able to type in the name of any piece... Read more
Posted on 26 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
In the Court of the Orange King
Ross Douthat, The Wars Within Trump’s Court, NYTimes, Jan. 25, 2025 A scene from the first week of the second Trump administration: After the president held a... Read more
Posted on 25 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Photoshop’s Generative AI Rocks!
BEFORE: AFTER: For my money, the difference between the first image and the second is (just about) as remarkable as any of the verbal wizardry I’ve seen from... Read more
Posted on 25 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Yes, ChatGPT Appreciates the Irony of Being an AI Critiquing Human Attempts to...
It wasn’t until after I’d uploaded my post about the inadequacy of LLM benchmarks that it occurred to me that there was something deeply ironic about a... Read more
Posted on 24 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Three Modes: Search, Inference, Exploration [a Quickie]
Computer science knows a great deal about search and inference. What about exploration? That’s what I’ve been tracking down these last few weeks. That’s what... Read more
Posted on 24 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: A Little of This, a Little of That • [all Jersey City] •...
Posted on 24 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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ChatGPT Critiques Benchmarks as a Measure of LLM Performance and Then...
I just read this article: Kevin Roose, When A.I. Passes This Test, Look Out, NYTimes, Jan. 23, 2025. “Fiddlesticks! Fiddlesticks and moonbeams!” said I to... Read more
Posted on 23 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Vibes They Are a-Shiftin'
I'm taking that title from Matt Yglesias' latest column. He's right, and that's good. Let's be clear, I really really don't like Trump. Read more
Posted on 23 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
There Aren't All That Many Exceptional People
Gilles E. Gignac, The number of exceptional people: Fewer than 85 per 1 million across key traits, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 234, 2025,... Read more
Posted on 23 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Old Photos About Places I've Lived [Hamilton Park, Lafayette, Both in Jerse...
Posted on 23 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
