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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How Failure Led Me to Appreciate the Importance of Description in Literary Study
That one learns from failure is a well-worn cliché in the business world, but that shouldn’t blind us to the fact that it is true. Or can be. For learning... Read more
Posted on 02 November 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What Do Race Horses 'think' About Racing?
From the NYTimes about American Pharaoh, by Joe Drape: Usually I want tension, I want drama in a horse race, especially one as important as the Breeders’ Cup... Read more
Posted on 01 November 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tinker Bell and Fairy Dust: Joseph Carroll Doesn’t Know What He Doesn’t Know
Several years ago the journal Style devoted a double issue to evolutionary criticism. It had a target article by Joseph Carroll, responses from 10 or 20 other... Read more
Posted on 31 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Running with My New Toy, Part 2
Continuing from yesterday, I set my new camera (a Lumix used DMC-ZS7) to shoot in a 4 by 3 aspect ratio and went out for some evening and night-time shooting,... Read more
Posted on 30 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How Does Discursive Thought Maintain a Sense of Reality?
This isn’t about mundane reality, e.g. is that lake in the distance real or a mirage? This isn’t about the reality that stage magicians fool around with. Read more
Posted on 30 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Our "experience of Duration is a Signature of [...] Coding Efficiency"
David M. Eagleman, and Vani Pariyadath, Is subjective duration a signature of coding efficiency? (PDF) Phil.... Read more
Posted on 30 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Bass is the Place
@ Open Culture: Trainor and her colleagues have recently published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggesting that perceptions... Read more
Posted on 30 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Biological Evolution May Be More Rapid Than We'd Thought
From Phys.org: A new study of chickens overturns the popular assumption that evolution is only visible over long time scales. By studying individual chickens... Read more
Posted on 29 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Authorial Intention in Literary Study, an Informal Note
Why have literary critics been so concerned about authorial intention? I say “have been” because these discussions were most vigorous back in the 1960s and... Read more
Posted on 29 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Test Run with My New Toy
It’s a used Lumix DMC-ZS7. It’s a mid-range point-and-shoot digital camera. That’s its ghostly presence in the photo above. I got it because I wanted a camera... Read more
Posted on 29 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Japanese Abacus & the "Extended" Mind
For the last year or so I've been watching a bunch of YouTube clips in a series called Begin Japanology, which is an NHK series about Japanese culture and... Read more
Posted on 28 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Me, Joseph Carroll, and the Search for Precision in Literary Criticism
I’ve been thinking a lot about Joseph Carroll recently and have been drafting material for posts that I may or may not put online [1]. It’s hard, very hard. Read more
Posted on 28 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Skills and Division of Labor Among Hunter-Gatherers
Paul L. Hooper, Kathryn Demps, Michael Gurven, Drew Gerkey, Hillard S. Kaplan. Skills, division of labour and economies of scale among Amazonian hunters and... Read more
Posted on 28 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
"Japanism"
Japanology Plus, Episode 20: Festivals. An expert on Japanese festivals, Tetsuya Yamamoto, says (c. 14:26): In Japan we say that there are eight million deities... Read more
Posted on 27 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Finger Knowledge, A Note About Me and My Machines
A couple of months ago, before I got my new machine, two keys on my keyboard failed. First the left Shift key failed, and then the left Command key (on a... Read more
Posted on 27 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Humanistic Thought as Prose-Centric Thought
Back on March 17, 2010 I made a short post to The Valve: “Style Matters”. I reposted it to New Savanna in June of 2012 and them bumped it to the top of the queu... Read more
Posted on 26 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hear Come the Sun – On Photographing a Sunrise
There is this word, “photorealism”, which refers to the quality of an image that has been drawn or painted. Not only does such an image represent some object... Read more
Posted on 26 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Bruno Latour on Laudato Si! – " The Immense Cry Channelled by Pope Francis"
The first two paragraphs, as translated by Stephen Muecke: The audacity of the Laudato Si! encyclical is equalled only by the multiple efforts to deaden as... Read more
Posted on 26 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Measurement: IQ and 5 Personality Factors
I've been reading around in Joseph Carroll recently, Graphing Jane Austen (2012) in particular, which he coauthored with John Johnson, Jonathan Gottschall, and... Read more
Posted on 25 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Transition to Digital Cinema Has Cut Down on the Availability of Classics
Nicola Mazzanti at David Bordwell's blog: Granted, it is easier and cheaper to produce and manage a DCP [digital cinema package] than a 35mm print. Read more
Posted on 24 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
