Bbenzon
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 ( 6711 )
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Multisensory Integration and Cross-modal Learning in Synaesthesia
: A unifying model https://t.co/oHXWz64UZB (cc @garwboy, fyi) pic.twitter.com/JHjRajqwgx— Kevin Mitchell (@WiringTheBrain) August 24, Read more
Posted on 24 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sutan Learns to Crack Eggs
Partial update (two entries, the last two) 12.11.23 Updated 6.21.21. Updated 12.9.19. Updated 6.23.17. In the course of thinking about... In the early 1970s I... Read more
Posted on 13 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Cultural Group Selection and Human Cooperation: a Conceptual and Empirical Review
Smith D. Cultural group selection and human cooperation: a conceptual and empirical review. Evol Hum Sci. 2020 Feb 7;2:e2. doi: 10.1017/ehs.2020.2. PMID:... Read more
Posted on 09 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Looking Back....purple Memories....
Posted on 08 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Difficulties of Transplanting Chip Manufacturing Culture from Taiwan to...
John Liu, What Works in Taiwan Doesn’t Always in Arizona, a Chipmaking Giant Learns, NYTimes, Aug. 8, 2024: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, one of... Read more
Posted on 08 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The ‘Orgasm Gap’ Isn’t Going Away for Straight Women
Amanda N Gesselman, Margaret Bennett-Brown, Simon Dubé, Ellen M Kaufman, Jessica T Campbell, Justin R Garcia, The lifelong orgasm gap: exploring age’s impact... Read more
Posted on 08 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
"Inside Out" Provides a Language for Therapy
Melena Ryzik, How ‘Inside Out’ and Its Sequel Changed Therapy, NYTimes, Aug. 7, 2024. Opening paragraphs of the article: In 2012, when Olivia Carter was just... Read more
Posted on 07 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is OpenAI Imploding? More Leaders Are Jumping Ship.
OpenAI looking like Game of Thrones.Ilya, Andrej, Jan Leike, etc departing in last several months and now … this: pic.twitter. Read more
Posted on 06 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Terry Eagleton on the Death of Criticism
From the YouTube page: April 9, 2010: One of Britain's most influential literary critics, Terry Eagleton is Distinguished Professor of English Literature at... Read more
Posted on 05 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Breakfast Horizons
Posted on 05 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Marshmallow Test Does Not Reliably Predict Adult Functioning
Jessica F. Sperber, Deborah Lowe Vandell, Greg J. Duncan, Tyler W. Watts, Delay of gratification and adult outcomes: The Marshmallow Test does not reliably... Read more
Posted on 05 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
AI Models Collapse When Trained on Recursively Generated Data
Shumailov, I., Shumaylov, Z., Zhao, Y. et al. AI models collapse when trained on recursively generated data. Nature 631, 755–759 (2024). https://doi.org/10. Read more
Posted on 05 August 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What Do People Enjoy?
Fascinating graph showing how much people report enjoying different activities. Much of it backs up common sense but here's what jumped out to me:1. Read more
Posted on 29 July 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Bill Maher and William Shatner Talk About Deep Fundamental Things While Also...
This clip is two years old. I believe that Maher was 66 at the time and Shatner was 90. Here's the description that came with the clip: "Bill and William Shatne... Read more
Posted on 29 July 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Paul Fry on Influence: Eliot and Bloom (Theory of Literature)
87,872 views Sep 1, 2009 Introduction to Theory of Literature (ENGL 300) In this lecture on the psyche in literary theory, Professor Paul Fry explores the work... Read more
Posted on 28 July 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Laughter on the Campaign Trail: Harris (yes) Vs. Trump (no)
Jason Zinoman, Kamala Harris’s Laugh Is a Campaign Issue. Our Comedy Critic Weighs in. NYTimes, July 28, 2024. Plato warned against a love of laughter,... Read more
Posted on 28 July 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Art of Misdirection – Giving Shots to Infants and Toddlers
One day my YouTube feed presented me with this sort video. I was curious, so I watched it. It was quite remarkable. This one is similar, but instead of giving... Read more
Posted on 27 July 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Whisper Not - Benny Golson and McCoy Tyner
Whisper Not (Golson): Benny Golson (born 1929), tenor saxophone; McCoy Tyner (1938-2020), piano; Avery Sharpe, bass and Aaron Scott on drums. Jazz in Marciac... Read more
Posted on 25 July 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Risks of Proliferating AI Agents
Malcolm Murray, The Shifting Nature Of AI Risk, 3 Quarks Daily, July 22, 2024. Second and more importantly, much of the focus in AI is currently on building AI... Read more
Posted on 22 July 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Touch of Yellow
Posted on 21 July 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY