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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Visual Resonance
Look at this photo: Now I’m going to play around with it in Photoshop, which allows you to apply filters to an image and then, in you wish, to blend the filtere... Read more
Posted on 09 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why Should Humanists Adopt Evolutionary Concepts in Thinking About Culture?
Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. – Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defense of Poetry I started working on this post a month or two ago. Read more
Posted on 07 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Shooting Manhattan on a Wednesday Evening
Living as I do, in New Jersey, I have had ample opportunity to study and photograph the Manhattan skyline. Here’s a shot I took from Jersey City (you can see a... Read more
Posted on 07 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
An Inquiry into & a Critique of Dennett on Intentional Systems
A new working paper. Downloads HERE: SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2640687 Academia.edu:... Read more
Posted on 06 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Bento: The Japanese Art of Boxed Lunches
I've been rummaging around in a series of videos about Japan. Japanology they're called, a coinage I find somewhat awkward. Each video takes a different topic... Read more
Posted on 05 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Another Take on Coates: As Writer, as Celebrity
“Between the World and Me ... and Twitter”, Stephan A. Crockett, Jr. writing in The Root: The book is lyrical and rhythmic. There are lines in the book that... Read more
Posted on 04 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Dan Dennett, Hot and Cold
3 Quarks Daily has posted two videos by Dan Dannett on the topic of Information, Evolution, and intelligent Design. The first of them I think of as Dennett COLD. Read more
Posted on 04 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Michael Barrier and Andrew Osmond on Inside Out
Michael Barrier: Still, I couldn't get past the film's governing conceit, that the personified emotions inside eleven-year-old Riley's head were somehow distinc... Read more
Posted on 04 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Warner Brothers Stars: Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Daffy Duck
Another working paper. Download from Academic.edu: https://www.academia.edu/14629094/Warner_Brothers_Stars_Bugs_Bunny_Road_Runner_Daffy_Duck Abstract,... Read more
Posted on 03 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Felix Culpa: The Judeo-Christian Underpinnings of Coates’ Reparations Argument
Yes, I understand that Coates is an avowed atheist. But he was born and raised in a culture that has been formed by Christian thought and ritual practice. Read more
Posted on 02 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Musical Preferences Are Linked to Cognitive Styles
Greenberg DM, Baron-Cohen S, Stillwell DJ, Kosinski M, Rentfrow PJ (2015) Musical Preferences are Linked to Cognitive Styles. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0131151.... Read more
Posted on 01 August 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Lafayette Rising
A couple years ago i lived in the Lafayette neighborhood of Jersey City. In the late summer of 2012 the neighborhood had its first block party in years,... Read more
Posted on 31 July 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why Did Europe Conquer the World?
Martin Vander Weyer reviews Philip T Hoffman, Why Did Europe Conquer the World? ts starting point is the assertion that Europe really did conquer the world, or... Read more
Posted on 31 July 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Malcolm X, Game Theory, and Expressive Culture
As the title says, I’ve got more to say about the phenomenon of Ta-Nehisi Coates. In the first place, I’m wondering is his writing is affecting people now in th... Read more
Posted on 30 July 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Obama’s Eulogy for Clementa Pinckney: Technics of Power and Grace
I've uploaded a new working paper. Links etc. below: Academia.edu:... Read more
Posted on 29 July 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
McWhorter on Antiracism as Religion, and Beyond
Yesterday I published a post at 3 Quarks Daily in which I quoted a July 21 remarks between John McWhorter and Glenn Loury to the effect that antiracism has... Read more
Posted on 28 July 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
@3QD: Obama’s Pinckney Eulogy, Ta-Nehisi Coates as “Priest”, Laudato Si’
The topic: The place of religious discourse in civic life. Initially prompted by some remarks by Glenn Loury and John McWhorter from June 29, I took a close loo... Read more
Posted on 27 July 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
On Laudato Si’ as a Political Document
Robert Manne in The Monthly, July 1: Where Al Gore and Pope Francis part company is over the relation of the climate crisis to contemporary industrial... Read more
Posted on 26 July 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Black Preaching, the Church, and Civic Life
I can’t say that I’ve even thought of that topic until a couple of year ago when I visisted a church in Jersey City, when I was living at the time (I'm now in... Read more
Posted on 26 July 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Religion in America, Going Forward
In view of my current inquiry in the Reverend President's eulogy for Clementa Pinckney I thought I'd bump this to the top of the pile. Read more
Posted on 25 July 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
