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
-
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 )
-
Time for a {fashion} Revolution
Vanessa Friedman, It’s Time for a Fashion Revolution, NYTimes, Dec. 12, 2024: This year will be a year of seismic change in fashion. That much is a given. Read more
Posted on 13 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
#Elonald: An Apocalyptic Conjunction & the Contradictions of Capitalism
Donald Trump, President-Elect of the United States, and Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and a technological wizard, what a conjunction. Read more
Posted on 13 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ole Rømer Estimated the Speed of Light in 1676. He Was the First.
See this clip featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson. He begins by telling us that Galileo was the first one to attempt to measure the speed of light. Read more
Posted on 13 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.5 on Mental Growth in Adulthood
We’re back to my series of reflections on melancholy and creativity. As you may recall, it started with an article in 3 Quarks Daily: Melancholy and Growth:... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.5 Sonata Describes Jon Faddis Fronting a Big Band on the Waterfront at...
What’s going on? This image shows a jazz performance taking place in what appears to be a high-rise venue with a dramatic cityscape visible through the windows... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Emergent Permission Structures for Murder in the Digital Age
Killing With Applause: Emergent Permission Structures for Murder in the Digital Age, NCRI: Network Contagion Research Institute, Eaglton Institute of Politics,... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ezra Klein: Here Be Monsters. [The State of the World]
From The New York Times, Jan. 12, 2025, ChatGPT summarizes: The article "The Old World Is Breaking Down. A New One Is Breaking Through" by Ezra Klein discusses... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.5 Sonata Describes the Infamous Green Pump Astride a Fire Hose Valve....
The way this conversation develops interesting. Of particular interest: When I reply “LOL!”, Claude recognizes that as ironic. How? What kind of contextual... Read more
Posted on 11 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Domestic Tranquillity
Posted on 11 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
Martha [Media Notes 153] – Watch It, It’s Important.
I never paid all that much attention to Martha Stewart. I suppose I had a slightly negative impression, with little investment in it. Read more
Posted on 11 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Children and Adults Do Not View Love, Trust, Popularity, and Leadership as...
Wei, K., Yang, F. (2025). Love Doesn’t Run Out: Children and Adults Do Not View Social Resources as Inherently Zero-Sum. Social Psychological and Personality... Read more
Posted on 11 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Model Trains!
When I was quite young, perhaps five or six, I got a model train for Christmas. An O-gauge freight train with a steam engine and a few cars, made by Lionel. Read more
Posted on 10 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.5 Sonata Describes a Photo of Miniature Castle Ruins Among Reeds
Any human looking at this photo could see instantly that they were looking at a model of castle ruins. Not Claude 3.5 Sonata. Its initial reaction would be... Read more
Posted on 10 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Let's Dance
Posted on 10 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
Modes for Interacting with LLMs (ChatGPT and Claude 3.5)
Since the release of ChatGPT in late November of 2022 I have logged hundreds of hours interacting with LLMs. Most of those hours have been with ChatGPT, but... Read more
Posted on 10 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Not Outa' the Woods Yet
Posted on 09 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
In Which I Ask Claude 3.5 About Sexual Shame and Confusion in Humans
As far as I know, there is no standard account of why humans find sexuality so problematic. It’s not as though no one’s thought to investigate it. They have. Read more
Posted on 09 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Colt Clark and the Quarantine Kids Drive the Beatle's Car
From the YouTube page: Hey guys! IT’S BEATLES WEDNESDAY! We haven’t said that in a while! One of our New Year’s resolutions is to get back to Beatles Wednesdays. Read more
Posted on 09 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Review of John Barth's Lost in the Funhouse
William Benzon, From the Passéd Jaws of Giles, Review of John Barth. Lost in the Funhouse. The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, p. 9, November 15, 1968. Read more
Posted on 09 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Classical Musician Who Improvises? Who'd Have Thunk? [Gabriela Montero]
But you know, all this comes completely naturally to any half-way decent jazz musician. So much of the "gee whiz" aspect of this conversation is rather... Read more
Posted on 08 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
