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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Squirrels Listen to the Surrounding Birds to Know When They're Safe
James Gorman, NYTimes, reports, Squirrels Relax When They Hear Birds Relaxing, Sept 6, 2019. Researchers at Oberlin College reported Wednesday in the... Read more
Posted on 06 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Evolution of Agriculture from 10 Kya and into the Future
Arie Altman, Alex Mesoudi, Understanding Agriculture within the Frameworks of Cumulative Cultural Evolution, Gene-Culture Co-Evolution, and Cultural Niche... Read more
Posted on 05 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
An Optical Neural Network for Deep Learning
Researchers demonstrate all-optical neural network for deep learning https://t.co/QPEU9yUESP #DeepLearning #NeuralNetwork — Machine Learning (@machinelearnflx)... Read more
Posted on 05 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Emergent Ventures Has Announced It's Fifth Cohort of Grants
Tyler Cowen's been running it for about a year, with the first cohort being announced on November 7, 2018. Here's the current (fifth) cohort. This link gets... Read more
Posted on 05 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
This Isn't Mars, It's Even Stranger, It's Earth (Liberty State Park, NJ)
Posted on 05 September 2019
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Amazon Delivery, Cheap and Fast but Irresponsible?
Patricia Callahan has a long article in tne NYTimes about Amazon's use of contract drivers to deliver its packages, "The Human Cost of Amazon’s Fast, Free... Read more
Posted on 05 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
AI Scores an 'A' on the N.Y. Regents Science Exams
Peter Clark, et al., From 'F' to 'A' on the N.Y. Regents Science Exams: An Overview of the Aristo Project, arXiv:1909.01958 [cs. Read more
Posted on 05 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Coming Regulation of Big Tech? Yikes! We're Not Ready.
Kyle Langvardt and Alan Z. Rozenshtein, Sen. Hawley’s Bid to ‘Disrupt’ Big Tech, Lawfare, Sept. 4, 2019. From the conclusion: We see five important takeaways... Read more
Posted on 04 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Virtual Feudalism in the Twenty-First Century
A new working paper by me and Abbe Mowshowitz. Title above and abstract below. Download at Academia.edu:... Read more
Posted on 04 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Marianne Williamson on the Road – On Trump: “We’re Going to Get Him Right Betwee...
Taffy Brodesser-Akner, The Gospel According to Marianne Williamson, NYTimes Magazine, Sept. 3, 2019: There she stood, tiny and regal, on the breathtaking porch... Read more
Posted on 03 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Toward the Common GOOD (Global Organization Of Democracies)
by Charlie Keil The big world conferences on climate every 20 years (1972 Sweden, 1992 Brazil, 2012 Denmark) have failed. Bill McKibben and 350. Read more
Posted on 03 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Denmark Has Appointed an Ambassador to Silicon Valley...
... and Silicon Valley, of course, is not a sovereign country. It is a loose collection of powerful tech companies in Northern California. Read more
Posted on 03 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Decline of Ideology as a Political Force [China, Hong-Kong]
From an interview with Martin Gurri on the Hong-Kong protests: One of the most remarkable developments of the 21st century has been the decline of ideology as... Read more
Posted on 02 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Medium of Exchange in Prison, from Tobacco to Dots
Richard Davies, From pecan pralines to ‘dots’ as currency: how the prison economy works, The Guardian, August 30, 2019. Though barter does happen in prison, it... Read more
Posted on 02 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What Recent Event Gets Replayed in Kisangani 2150 to a Different Effect?
“We Are the World”, the 1985 charity song/event orchestrated by (well-off) pop musicians to benefit African famine relief. Before going any further, however,... Read more
Posted on 02 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Extreme Ritual and Psychophysiological Well-being
Dimitris Xygalatas, Sammyh Khan, Martin Lang, Radek Kundt, Eva Kundtová-Klocová, Jan Krátký, and John Shaver, "Effects of Extreme Ritual... Read more
Posted on 02 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Billionaire Ray Diallo Calls for Economic Reform
Lance Darmiento, Reform capitalism or face revolution, billionaires are told at Milken Conference, Los Angeles Times, May 2, 2019: Dalio made a reported $2... Read more
Posted on 01 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
When the Periphery is Central
Hugh C. O’Connell reviews Luna (2015) by Ian McDonald. McDonald’s worlds, whether grim, hopeful, or — as is often the case — both, feel lived in rather than... Read more
Posted on 01 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Mindfulness and Time Management
Jenny Odell, Can We Slow Down Time in the Age of TikTok? NYTimes, 31 August 2019. My students are growing up in a culture that is even more intensely... Read more
Posted on 01 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Maslow in the Corporation
Why was Maslow's hierarchy of needs so enthusiastically embraced by corporate America? @kiralussier's fascinating history just published in @WileyPsychology's... Read more
Posted on 01 September 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
