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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The Diary of a Man and His Machines, Part 1: The 20th Century
I’ve swiped the title from Dave Hays, my teacher and later friend and colleague, who wrote a weekly column entitled, “The Diary of a Man and His Machine”. Read more
Posted on 10 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Red Cabbage
Posted on 09 October 2015
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Emotion in the Body (and in Poetry?): James-Lange Then and Now
I' originally published this in July 2012, but I'm bumping it to the top of the cue because, well, it's very interesting. It suggests how we can easily be... Read more
Posted on 09 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Posturing Robots and Infants: Contra Theory of Mind
Theory of Mind (aka TOM) has been a big deal in psychology for well over a decade, and it’s crept into literary criticism too. Read more
Posted on 07 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Dennett on Memes, Neurons, and Software
Another working paper, links: Academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/16514603/Dennett_on_Memes_Neurons_and_Software SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2670107... Read more
Posted on 06 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Memory Tricks: Om's Groove
A couple of months ago I was working with my friend Wendelin on a spoken word piece. She provided the spoken words while I was one of the musicians... Read more
Posted on 06 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Description as a Mode of Literary Criticism
I’ve got a long-standing interest in the need to describe the formal features of literary texts. When theorizing about description I’ve been most concerned abou... Read more
Posted on 05 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Revised Working Paper on Heart of Darkness
I’ve made two changes from the original version of this working paper, which I originally posted to the web in August of 2011. First, I have revised section HD5... Read more
Posted on 02 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: What Bad Weather Can Be Like in Jersey City (Joaquin is Coming)
With hurricane Joaquin coming up the coast, we're in for some bad weather. Just how bad, we don't know. Maybe just a lot of wind and rain, but maybe some... Read more
Posted on 02 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Big Macs for 2016: Same Old Same Old
The mavens, pundits, and prognosticators at Big Mac Central have once again bestowed their special sauce on a cohort of worthy recipients. Read more
Posted on 01 October 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
On the Rez: Grooves, Gambling, and Grass
There’s a very interesting story out of South Dakota. It seems that Federal law permitting marijuana in some states now permits it on Indian reservations, so:... Read more
Posted on 30 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What's up with This Crazyass US Politics?
My friend (and former teacher) Art asked me what I thought about the current Presidential campaign in the US. Alas, I have no particular thoughts or wisdom. Read more
Posted on 29 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Doodle Your Way to Deeper Understanding
From the NYTimes: According to research, creating visual representations of concepts and ideas can improve comprehension by helping us break down, organize and... Read more
Posted on 28 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Cornelia Bargmann is Co-chair of the Brain Initiative, Cr...
Cornelia Bargmann is co-chair of the Brain Initiative, created two years ago by the Obama administration to fund research into new tools for studying the... Read more
Posted on 26 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Goldstone and Underwood, #149: Foreign Language Education
Another post based on: Andrew Goldstone and Ted Underwood , “The Quiet Transformations of Literary Studies: What Thirteen Thousand Scholars Could Tell Us”, New... Read more
Posted on 25 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Buddhism in Europe in the 18th Century, Among Other Things
Alison Gopnik is an important and influential developmental psychologist. FWIW her brother writes for The New Yorker. She has a compelling autobiographical essa... Read more
Posted on 24 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Topic Analysis: Goldstone & Underwood and the "economy" of Word Distribution...
Andrew Goldstone and Ted Underwood , “The Quiet Transformations of Literary Studies: What Thirteen Thousand Scholars Could Tell Us”, New Literary History 45, no... Read more
Posted on 24 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ethical Criticism: Blakely Vermeule on Theory, Cornel West in the Academy, Now...
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 23 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Color in "Mad Max: Fury Road"
Kristin Thompson: One reason why Fury Road looks so good is results from Miller’s and and his cinematographer’s decision to avoid the look of most... Read more
Posted on 23 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Peekaboo 2
Since Otto von Münchow liked yesterday's photo, I thought I'd post a companion. This is pretty much the same scene, but the focal plane is at the grass in the... Read more
Posted on 23 September 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
