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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Music, Oxytocin, and Synchronization
Physicist Sean Carroll talks with Indre Viskontas, neuroscientist and opera singer. 0:37:07 Indre Viskontas: It’s the terrible times. Yeah. So, one of things... Read more
Posted on 09 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tight Like This: A Tale of High Adventure in Ancient Nubia
I'm bumping this to the top of the queue. Why? Because I can, that's why. Because the world's got to change and it's got to change NOW. You know, now's the time... Read more
Posted on 09 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
From Artificial to Augmented Intelligence
Joe McKendrick, Why AI Should rightfully Mean Augmented Intelligence, Not Artificial Intelligence, Forbes, 29 June 2019: Perhaps "artificial" is too artificial... Read more
Posted on 09 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Little RGB, Spikey
Posted on 08 July 2019
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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On the Distinction Between One’s Personal Interests and One’s Duties to the...
Corruption is a conspicuous feature of the Trump presidency, starting with Trump himself. Whether or not Trump is the most corrupt man ever to occupy that offic... Read more
Posted on 08 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
History, Change, Evolution (and Intelligence)
Why then should we talk of language evolution rather than language change? And the same with culture, why evolution rather than change? The reason, I suspect, i... Read more
Posted on 08 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A New Leftist Revision of Capitalist Economics?
Andy Beckett, The new left economics: how a network of thinkers is transforming capitalism, The Guardian, 25 June, 2019: There is a dawning recognition that a... Read more
Posted on 07 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Growth Curves for Cultural Evolution Through Cognitive Ranks
This is another section from the working paper I’m preparing on stagnation. I introduce the concept of cultural ranks early in the paper and include an... Read more
Posted on 06 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Overexposed and Blurry
Whoops! I simply picked up my camera and started shooting. After 20 shots or so I decided to take a look at what I've been getting. The shots were all badly... Read more
Posted on 05 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ramble On: Managing the Mind
I wonder, basic physical needs aside, is managing the mind the basic activity of being human? Or may be just straight out: Is managing the mind the basic... Read more
Posted on 05 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Beyond Stagnation – Things to Come
I am currently gathering and editing some posts from late last year into a working paper. The general theme is one I picked up from Tyler Cowen, stagnation,... Read more
Posted on 04 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Just How Good is Shakespeare Anyhow?
This is a question I think about from time to time [1]. Among those who think about such things there is the belief that Shakespeare is the greatest. The... Read more
Posted on 03 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Metal Lenses for Small Scale Devices
Tiny Lenses Will Enable Design of Miniature Optical Devices https://t.co/YE0Nm88Vox via @sciam — Sabine Hossenfelder (@skdh) July 3, 2019 From the article: A... Read more
Posted on 03 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Flowers, up Close
Posted on 03 July 2019
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Repetition of Sounds Creates the Sense of Music
Rowland, J., Kasdan, A. Poeppel, D., There is music in repetition: Looped segments of speech and nonspeech induce the perception of music in a time-dependent... Read more
Posted on 03 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Shakespeare Collective?
From David Scott Kastan, Shakespeare Didn't Write Alone, The Atlantic, June 8, 2019: So, early and late in his career, Shakespeare worked with other playwrights. Read more
Posted on 02 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Computation and Strategic Intelligence: Notes on Sherman Kent, Double...
Title above, links, summary, and contents below. Academia:... Read more
Posted on 02 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ah, the 1950s in the USofA – Car Culture
Pontiac Star Chief Custom Catalina, 1955 https://t.co/xrI7rqmh9o pic.twitter.com/FAVdtXmbqN — Masque of the Red Death (@doctorow) July 1, 2019 And don't... Read more
Posted on 01 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Cultural Evolution Conceived Dynamically as an Interplay of Forces.
Lorenzo Baravalle, Cultural evolutionary theory as a theory of forces, Synthese, May 2019, DOI: 10.1007/s11229-019-02247-0. Downloadable Preprint. Read more
Posted on 01 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Governance: Protest for Liberty State Park
Posted on 01 July 2019
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
