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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An Open Letter to Dan Everett About Literary Criticism
If you’ve heard of Dan Everett at all, most likely you’ve heard about his work among the Pirahã and his battle with Noam Chomsky and the generative... Read more
Posted on 20 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Greatest Man in Siam
by jazztoon This is one of my favorite cartoons. I've blogged about it quite a bit, and have packaged those posts into a working paper. Read more
Posted on 18 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Rise of Interpretive Literary Criticism
In various posts I've pointed out that interpretation didn't become central to academic literary study until after World War II. Read more
Posted on 18 February 2017 PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Donald Trump: Pop Star as President
If Elvis Presley had been elected President of the United States, what kind of president would he have been? We now know: Trumpian. Read more
Posted on 17 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Fathers and Sons
This is a fascinating little video. It's an interview with Paul Cohen, who played lead trumpet for Count Basie for years and years. The two men were very... Read more
Posted on 15 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Preview: Meaning in Conrad's Heart of Darkness
Here's another draft fragment from my open-letter in progress. This fragment centers on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. * * * * * Now I want to look at a... Read more
Posted on 14 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Another Shout-out to Anthony Bourdain
I've enjoyed both the episode on Tokyo, and that on Detroit, episodes 7 and 8 in season two of Parts Unknown. Tokyo: Like a lot of non-Japanese, obsessed with... Read more
Posted on 13 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Preview: Will the Real Shakespeare Stand Up
I’m currently working on another open letter. I thought I’d publish some draft text while continuing to work on the full letter. It’s going to be a long one. Read more
Posted on 13 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Cost Disease, E.g. Education and Health Care Cost More, but Teachers,...
Scott Alexander, in a long post: So, to summarize: in the past fifty years, education costs have doubled, college costs have dectupled [10 times], health... Read more
Posted on 11 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Anthony Bourdain on TV (Congo)
A couple of days ago I posted a couple of passages from a New Yorker profile of Anthony Bourdain. I became intrigued, so I've been watching two of his shows tha... Read more
Posted on 10 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Which Text is Real?
Matthew Kirschenbaum has an interest post on the nature of the codex in a digital world. Once it's been printed to paper it's much like a codex in the world of... Read more
Posted on 10 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Laughter in Infants
Gina Mireault has an article about infant laugher in Aeon. Infants show laughter about about four months. And then they use it: For example, infants can employ... Read more
Posted on 09 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Memory and Mental Maps (time and Space)
Kate Jeffrey and a fascinating article in Aeon. It's about mental maps, the neural structures that organize our spatial experience. They're also memory... Read more
Posted on 09 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Where Have All the MOOCs Gone?
I assume that they're still around, but you don't hear much about them anymore. Have they simply disappeared into the woodwork? Are they not so successful as th... Read more
Posted on 09 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Anthony Bourdain Has Dinner with Obama, Picks up the $6 Check
The New Yorker has a portrait of Anthony Bourdain, the peripatetic foodie. Here he is having dinner with Obama in Hanoi: As a White House advance team planned... Read more
Posted on 07 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Parables at 3QD
Stuck in Traffic: The Story of Civilization That’s my current piece at 3 Quarks Daily, Monday, February 7. It starts with me getting stuck in traffic trying to... Read more
Posted on 07 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Rejected @NLH! Part 5: What’s up Doc? The Romantic Hayride is Over
The Romantic hayride I have in mind is an opposition to scientific thought dating back to the Romantics and that played a role in the way the New Critics... Read more
Posted on 06 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Mark Changizi on Why We're Not Going to Build an Artificial Human Brain Anytime...
This is from an article Changizi published in Discover in 2011. After making the point that digital computers are easily delineated into parts and whole on... Read more
Posted on 05 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What Happens in a World Governed by a Liar?
Maria Konnikova in Politico: Scarier still for those who have never supported Trump is that he just might colonize their brains, too. Read more
Posted on 05 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Fake News on the Left
Fake news to left of them Fake news to right of them Fake news all over the damn place Volly'd and thunder'd... Writing in The Atlantic, Robinson Meyer argues... Read more
Posted on 04 February 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
