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 ( 7631 )
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A New Humanities for the 21st Century, Really? – Heart of Darkness Across...
From the other day, “the new humanities”: The work of @SimonDeDeo has made me realize a seminar on the philosophy of textual difference, vector spaces, and... Read more
Posted on 10 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Humanities Crisis is Real? – A Couple of Notes
This post hit the humanities blogosphere in late July like Little Boy and Fat Man combined: I recant my 2013 view that there's no humanities crisis in the US. Read more
Posted on 10 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Seas of Green
Posted on 10 August 2018
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Japanese Ghost Stories
In Japan, ghost stories are not to be scoffed at, but provide deep insights into the fuzzy boundary between life and death https://t.co/VlGNXVJ6S0 pic.twitter. Read more
Posted on 10 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Naomi Klein Says the New York Times Blew Its Massive Story About the Decade in...
Naomi Klein, Capitalism Killed Our Climate Momentum, Not “Human Nature”, The Intercept. According to Rich, between the years of 1979 and 1989, the basic... Read more
Posted on 09 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Toward a Counter Narrative for New York 2140 [#NY2140]
In chapter “e) Charlotte” in Part Five, there was a vote on whether or not to accept an offer to buy out the Met Life Tower. The vote was close, 1207 against,... Read more
Posted on 09 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Mind Hacks R Us – Computing & Tripping to the Millennium’s End
A bit earlier in this millennium I thought it would be interesting to write a book on the parallel evolution of computer culture and psychedelic culture in the... Read more
Posted on 09 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Gavin 4: Some Computational Semantics for a Shakespeare Sonnet
Now we’re ready to look at a computational model I developed for a Shakespeare sonnet, 129, “The Expense of Spirit”. When did this work I had no intention of... Read more
Posted on 08 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Douglas Hofstadter on the Limitations of Machine Translation
Ashutosh Jogalekar over the 3 Quarks Daily (look in the comments) has called my attention to a recent article in which Douglas Hofstadter puts Google Translate... Read more
Posted on 08 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Objectivity
Here is the publisher's blurb for Lorraine J. Daston and Peter Galison, Objectivity, MIT Press, 2007: Objectivity has a history, and it is full of surprises. Read more
Posted on 08 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
New York Skyline, a Bit of Context for Readers of New York 2140 [#NY2140]
For fans of New York 2140, here’s a bit of context for the Met Life Tower. I'm standing on the Palisades in Jersey City, looking out over Hoboken at Manhattan.... Read more
Posted on 08 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Emily Remler, Guitar Great
Is it time to reassess the artistry of guitarist Emily Remler (1957-1990)? https://t.co/ooawFVHCoF Lost to us at age 32. pic.twitter. Read more
Posted on 07 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Gavin 3: Comments on a Passage from “Paradise Lost”
What Michael Gavin [1] did was to place traditional close-reading and computational criticism in the same intellectual context by using the concept of... Read more
Posted on 07 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Podcasts for a Better Life
Molly Worthen, The Podcast Bros Want to Optimize Your Life, NYTimes: The sales pitches can eat up slightly more airtime than ads for mattresses and grocery... Read more
Posted on 07 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Moonrise at Futago Island, Matsushima
Hasui Kawase (川瀬 巴水 Kawase Hasui, May 18, 1883 – November 7, 1957) was a Japanese artist. He was one of the most prominent print... Read more
Posted on 07 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
My Current Thoughts About “New York 2140” Concerning Character and the Problem o...
First, character. I know that the book has been criticized for having thin characters. The issue has been raised in the current group reading being conducted... Read more
Posted on 06 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
On the Conversational Construction of Cultural Reality: Comments on Joe Rogan an...
In my previous post in this Joe Rogan series I’d transcribed a conversation Rogan had with Joey Diaz about the final fight scene between Bruce Lee and Chuck... Read more
Posted on 06 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tyler Cowen Has Some Suggestions as to Why the Tech World Has So Many Political...
Here's his top five, out of 17: Most tech leaders aren’t especially personable. Instead, they’re quirky introverts. Or worse. Most tech leaders don’t care much... Read more
Posted on 06 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Seven Views of the Met Life Tower (New York 2140)
I've lived in Jersey City or Hoboken since the beginning of the millennium; they are contiguous cities across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan. The... Read more
Posted on 05 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Old School: Torpor and Stupor at Johns Hopkins
Also known as Tottle and Stutter. But the real name was Tudor and Stuart: The Tudor and Stuart Club. The Tudor and Stuart Club was a literary society at The... Read more
Posted on 04 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
