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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What? The Humanities Center WON'T Be Closed!
What? The Humanities Center, NOT closed? I didn't even know it had been threatened with closure. The Humanities Center in question is, of course, the one at... Read more
Posted on 19 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Trump and the End of the Administrative State
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henniger asks the question of the decade, "Will the Trump presidency produce order or merely more disorder? Read more
Posted on 19 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Kittens, Flickr Commons, Library of Congress
Fond this photo on Flickr (H/t John Holbo): Here's the caption The Library of Congress supplied: Happy 9th Birthday, Flickr Commons! Read more
Posted on 17 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Do I Want to See La La Land?
The movie's been getting a lot of press. And I certainly have taken pleasure in movie musicals. So I've been wondering whether or not I want to see this one. Read more
Posted on 16 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Rejected @NLH! Part 2: What I Got out of Writing the Article
So, I ended the previous episode of Rejected @NLH! circling the periphery the discipline, thinking about sending an article in over the transom. Read more
Posted on 14 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
"Renaissance Man", the Learned and Practical Traditions, and Crossing Social...
This article, alas, behind a paywall, looks interesting and important. J. V. Field, The Unhelpful Notion of ‘Renaissance man’, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews... Read more
Posted on 13 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
You Can Build Your Own Fallout Shelter
Every now and then I'll talk about growing up in the 1950s and how I even thought about just where to place the family fallout shelter. Read more
Posted on 13 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
“Anchor” – Another Term in the Study of Cultural Evolution
Some time ago I decided to drop “meme” as a term for the genetic element in cultural evolutionary processes. 1) It has too much baggage attached to it. 2) The... Read more
Posted on 13 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: The Tree, Longwood Gardens, December 25, 2016
Two weeks ago it was white flowers from Longwood Gardens. Last week it was colored flowers. This week it's greenery. Read more
Posted on 13 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is Generative Grammar Moving to the “we Knew It All Along” Phase?
As you may know, for the last few years the linguistics world has been transfixed by a cage match between Daniel “The Pirahã Whisperer” Everett and Noam... Read more
Posted on 13 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Metaphor Deeper Than Mere Metaphor
Came across this old post when I went looking for the Thoreau quote, which is about steam engines, and thought I'd bump it to the top of the queue. It's about... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Rejected @NLH! Part 1: Outside Looking in on the Critics Table
Now it begins, my examination into the rejection of my essay by New Literary History. The essay: Sharing Experience: Computation, Form, and Meaning in the Work... Read more
Posted on 11 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Just Who is "White" Anyhow?
From Les Leopold, republished in Naked Capitalism: The definition of “white” and of “race” in general depends on the needs of the most powerful elements of... Read more
Posted on 11 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is the Internet Bringing an End to Shared Culture?
Farhad Manjoo in the NYTimes: What’s less discussed is the polarization of culture, and the new echo chambers within which we hear about and experience today’s... Read more
Posted on 11 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Rejected @NLH! Part 0: Some Reflections on Being Turned Down Cold at a Top...
Generally the introduction is the last thing I write in a working paper. That’s because either, 1) I’ve assembled a working paper out of posts that were... Read more
Posted on 10 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Attachment Theory Goes Mainstream(?)
Kate Murphy in the NYTimes SundayReview: We live in a culture that celebrates individualism and self-reliance, and yet we humans are an exquisitely social... Read more
Posted on 08 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
YIKES! Where Are My Glasses?
It had started snowing and it looked like the first real snow of the season. It had to get some photos. So I suited up – scarf, 35-year old down-filled jacket,... Read more
Posted on 08 January 2017 SOCIETY -
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Trump? – “You Need Some of the Major Institutions...
Mark Schmitt in conversation with Robert Wright, Bloggingheads.tv, January 5, 2016. Late in the conversation Wright asks: “Are you concerned about the... Read more
Posted on 07 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: The Color, Longwood Gardens, December 25, 2016
Last week I posted photos of white flowers at Longwood Gardens. This week I'm going for the color. Read more
Posted on 06 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The 70s, When Literary Criticism Moved Toward a World Unto Itself (w/ Notes on...
In the course of mulling over my rejection at NLH I continue to think about the 1970s as a critical period in academic literary criticism. Crudely put story... Read more
Posted on 06 January 2017 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
