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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Musical High: Free, Rockin’ and Tight as a Frog’s Bottom
This is cobbled together from notes and from out-takes from my book, Beethoven's Anvil: Music in Mind and Culture, and my personal notes. Zoom!!! Read more
Posted on 02 October 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tyler Cowen on Kavanaugh: Asymmetry Between Male and Female Perceptions
There is an asymmetry between male and female perceptions. Most men are not abusers, yet very large numbers of women have been abused. So if a man is an... Read more
Posted on 01 October 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
I Was Right, Shakespeare Isn’t Real (Lit Lab 17) [#DH]
Yes, I know, all those plays were written by a real person, not by an alien from another world. And no, I’m not alluding to that inane controversy over whether... Read more
Posted on 30 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Heart of Darkness: Kurtz’s Mistress is Murdered
Sometime well after I’d finished my various notes about Conrad’s Heart of Darkness I came across an interview that Rachel Kaadzi Ghansa had conducted with Samue... Read more
Posted on 30 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Story of My Intellectual Life, Short Version (136 Words)
In the early 1970s I discovered that “Kubla Khan” had a rich, marvelous, and fantastically symmetrical structure. I'd found myself intellectually. I knew what... Read more
Posted on 29 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Michael Bérubé Tells All
I was making my rounds the other day and followed a link to an interview with Michael Bérubé. But what really caught my attention was the name of the reviewer... Read more
Posted on 28 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Contact & Dialectic (sky)
Posted on 28 September 2018
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Tech Firms Are Not Soverigns
This is a very important issue: Andrew Keane Woods writing at Lawfare: Technology firms are extraordinarily powerful. They control vast sums of money. Read more
Posted on 28 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Earl Wasserman, a Lifelong Student, a Scholar’s Scholar
I’m told that he was sometimes known as “Earl the Pearl” among the English Department grad students. Why, I don’t know. Well sure, there’s the sound of the... Read more
Posted on 27 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Notes Toward a Theory of the Corpus, Part 1: History [#DH]
By corpus I mean a collection of texts. The texts can be of any kind, but I am interested in literature, so I’m interested in literary texts. What can we infer... Read more
Posted on 27 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
From a Big Wave to a Great Wave
Evolution of Hokusai's "Great Wave". 1. When he was 33 (1792).2. When he was 44 (1803).3. When he was 46 (1805).4. When he was 72 (1831). pic.twitter. Read more
Posted on 27 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Importance of Words and Stories: If We Don't Know How to Put It into Words,...
Penelope Trunk, Judge Kavanaugh has taught me so much about how the world works. First four paragraphs: I can’t stop reading about Judge Kavanaugh. I am learnin... Read more
Posted on 26 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sean Carrolll Interviews David Poeppel About Language and the Brain
Sean Carroll is a physicist at CalTech and Poeppel studies the brain, language, and cognition at NYU and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in... Read more
Posted on 25 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
CFP: Computational Cognitive Science and Digital Humanities [#DH]
For some time now I've been saying that a convergence between computational criticism and cognitive science is a "natural", particularly the computational side... Read more
Posted on 25 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Still, Why Do Literary Critics Find It So Difficult to Focus on Form?
A topic I’ve been thinking about off and on for some time, most recently: Once more, and thinking of ring composition: Why aren’t literary critics interested... Read more
Posted on 24 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Software Sucks! Why?
Nikita writes: I’ve been programming for 15 years now. Recently our industry’s lack of care for efficiency, simplicity, and excellence started really getting... Read more
Posted on 23 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Close-up
Posted on 23 September 2018
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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A Look Under the Hood Through the Insane Musical Genius That is Mnozil Brass
Note: This had been originally posted at 3 Quarks Daily, but it got lost when 3QD moved to a new location. Meanwhile a number of the video clips got thrown in... Read more
Posted on 23 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Courtesies and Seams: My Relationship with David Hays, Teacher, Mentor,...
I’d been planning to write this for some time. Having spent a good bit of time over the last month thinking and writing about the toxic relationship Avital... Read more
Posted on 22 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Extended Network of Humans and Things (ANT) That Constitutes an AI System
If you haven’t already, read this incisive and imaginative account of the vast AI system that makes this possible and so disconcerting: “Alexa, turn on the... Read more
Posted on 21 September 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
