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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Political Organization and Legitimacy
This is another excerpt from David Hays, The Evolution of Technology Through Four Cognitive Ranks (1995). This is from Chapter 5, “Politics, Cognition, and... Read more
Posted on 01 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tyler Cowen on Marianne Williamson in the Democratic Debates – Values!
Tyler Cowen has some remarks on the Democratic debates. He's posted some remarks on Williamson at Marginal Revolution: Finally, there is Marianne Williamson. Read more
Posted on 01 July 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
DNA for Reliable Long-term Data Storage
Startup packs all 16GB of Wikipedia onto DNA strands to demonstrate new storage tech. https://t.co/TaEXGSXifM — Ted Gioia (@tedgioia) June 30, 2019 From the... Read more
Posted on 30 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
More on Fully Automated Luxury Communism (FALC)
Annie Lowry reviews Aaron Bastani's book in The Atlantic, 20 June 2019. The most ardent advocate for FALC, Aaron Bastani, a London-based media executive and... Read more
Posted on 30 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Where White Musicians in on New Orleans Jazz from the Beginning?
Terry Teachout discusses Samuel Charters’s A Trumpet Around the Corner: The Story of New Orleans Jazz in "All That (White) Jazz", Commentary, Nov. 8, 2008. Read more
Posted on 30 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Score One More for the Xanadu Meme
Toronto startup Xanadu raises $32-million to help build ‘world’s most powerful computer’ /via @globeandmail https://t.co/wf1VMfDki6 — Sabine Hossenfelder (@skdh... Read more
Posted on 30 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
New York 2140, Back to the Future: A Working Paper
Title above. Links, abstract, contents, and introduction below. Academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/39720382/New_York_2140_Back_to_the_Future SSRN:... Read more
Posted on 29 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
In the Garden, an Economy of Plants
Posted on 29 June 2019
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The Mystique of Compound Interest, a Brief Note About Generalizing It To, Well,...
I’ve been following Tyler Cowen for years. Marginal Revolution, the blog he runs with Alex Tabarrok, is on my daily rounds of the web. Read more
Posted on 29 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Classical Japanese Anatomical Illustration
19th Century Japanese Woodblock Prints Creatively Illustrate the Inner Workings of the Human Body https://t.co/ZRHdkpG9pm pic.twitter. Read more
Posted on 28 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why Not Computer in a Can? Michael Nielsen on the Varieties of Material Existence
I have a friend who is prone to thinking that the route from imagination to implementation isn't worth thinking about. I'd tease him with the idea of... Read more
Posted on 28 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Population Size and Human Culture, Some Quick and Dirty Reflections
Economist Tyler Cowen has jones for size. He’s just published a book in praise of big business and he believes that the best way to bring prosperity to all is t... Read more
Posted on 27 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Norman Mailer's "space-operatic Heebie-jeebies" About Apollo 11
Life magazine commissioned Norman Mailer to write Apollo 11. They paid very well and he needed the case. So he did. He wrote three "three mega-installments"... Read more
Posted on 26 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Godzilla Has Doubled in Size Since It Appeared in 1954. Why?
One proposal is that it reflects increasing anxiety: Nathaniel J. Dominy, Ryan Calsbeek, Godzilla’s extraordinary growth over time mirrors an increase in... Read more
Posted on 26 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Xanadu Swingers
Granted, there's that line about the woman wailing for her demon lover, still, I doubt this is what Coleridge had in mind. If you're curious, here's a link... Read more
Posted on 25 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Surrogates
Posted on 25 June 2019
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Fictional Commitments – Star Trek DS9 S2 E16: Shadowplay [Media Notes 4]
From the opening of the Wikipedia plot summary: Dax and Odo detect an unusual particle field emanating from a planet in the Gamma Quadrant, so they beam down... Read more
Posted on 25 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Should We Do Away with the Categories of Linnaean Classification in Biology?
Christie Wilcox, What’s in a Name? Taxonomy Problems Vex Biologists, Quanta Magazine, June 24, 2019. arl Linnaeus was probably not the first scientist to realiz... Read more
Posted on 24 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Helicopter, Cranes, Trees, Sky, the City
Posted on 24 June 2019
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Literacy and the Human Mind/brain
From "Culture shapes the brain: How reading changes the way we think": Reading and writing is something most of us take for granted. Read more
Posted on 24 June 2019 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
