Bbenzon
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 ( 6449 )
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Comedians Sitting on Vibrators Getting Coffee
I have no idea whether or not this is the first parody of Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which, after all, has been around for awhile. But the fac... Read more
Posted on 07 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
House of Cards, Wow! – Part 2
I finished the fourth season last night. Of course, it ends in a cliff-hanger. But what a cliff hanger. The story of the Underwoods' underhanded dealings has... Read more
Posted on 07 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Authoritarianism in Contemporary America and the Rise of Trump
Vox has a major article on authoritarianism and Donald Trump. Between the (exaggerated) threat of terrorism and internal social change, authoritarians have... Read more
Posted on 06 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
House of Cards, Wow!
As some of you may know, Netflix dropped the fourth season on Friday (that is, yesterday) and I've been working my way through it. Read more
Posted on 06 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
E. O. Wilson on Preserving Biodiversity
This week he publishes his 32nd book, Half Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life, in which he argues that we must set aside half the earth a preserve for... Read more
Posted on 05 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Komorebi
[Japanese] "木漏れ日" (Komorebi) - rays of sunlight filtering through leaves above. [from Read more
Posted on 04 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What’s Stand-Up Like?
Thinking about Jerry Seinfeld, starting with his show with Obama, has gotten me to think more generally about stand-up. It turns out that that’s something he’s... Read more
Posted on 04 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hearing Voices
An excerpt of an excerpt: The psychiatrist Louis Gould wanted to know whether auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia have anything to do with the phenomenon o... Read more
Posted on 02 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Nina Simone Was Raised in the Church
Adam Shatz reviews What Happened, Miss Simone?, a Netflix documentary film directed by Liz Garbus, and What Happened, Miss Simone?: A Biography by Alan Light.... Read more
Posted on 02 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
So, What About Trump, Eh?
I’m afraid I don’t have anything particularly insightful to say about the astonishing rise of Donald Trump. Like just about everyone else – including, who knows... Read more
Posted on 02 March 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Lord Buckley, Groucho Marx, and Mrs. Jerry Chapman
A blast from the past. Back in the 1950s Groucho Marx had a quiz show, You Bet Your Life. This clip features two guests, Mrs. Jerry Chapman, and R. M. Buckley, ... Read more
Posted on 29 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Machines, Ethics, and "value-aligned Reward Signals"
From The Guardian, first three paragraphs: More than 70 years ago, Isaac Asimov dreamed up his three laws of robotics, which insisted, above all, that “a robot... Read more
Posted on 29 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Just Some Stuff
Posted on 26 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Seinfeld and Letterman Discuss "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee"
This is an hour-long discussion between David Latterman and Jerry Seinfeld about Seinfeld's web show "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee". It took place on June 9... Read more
Posted on 26 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Attridge and Staten 8: What (do They Think) They Are up To?
In the first post in this series I addressed the nature of minimal reading as Attridge and Staten presented it in the 2008 web version of their first chapter, o... Read more
Posted on 25 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What Makes an Effective Team?
Charles Duhigg in the NYTimes Magazine. A few years ago google set up Project Aristotle to figure out what makes some teams more effective than others. Read more
Posted on 25 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Nate Silver on Thinking Within a Framework
Tyler Cowen has an interesting interview with Nate Silver. Here's something Silver said that I rather like: By the way, another thing about the Trump thing... Read more
Posted on 24 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Raising Kids with Music
Sign Up Today for Free Ebook "Raising Kids With Music" https://t.co/jasAriDOEO pic.twitter.com/snjVDbeIHM— The Sync Project (@syncprojectco) February 23, Read more
Posted on 24 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Peak Paper
Over at Crooked Timber John Quiggin has a post on peak paper: In 2013, the world reached Peak Paper. World production and consumption of paper reached its... Read more
Posted on 22 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Writing Kanji on the Air is Even Better Practice Than Writing on Paper
About the intersection of visual and motor space in writing: Margaret Thomas, Air Writing as a Technique for the Acquisition of Sino-Japanese Characters by... Read more
Posted on 22 February 2016 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY