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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From Multiple Personalities to Dissociative Identity Disorder
Below the asterisks I've copied some remarks about this disorder from my article, First Person: Neuro-Cognitive Notes on the Self in Life and in Fiction, PSYART... Read more
Posted on 24 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Robert Boyd on Cooperation
Why do humans cooperate in ways that other mammals don't? In the non-human world almost all cooperation can be explained in terms of genetic relatedness... Read more
Posted on 24 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Street Aesthetics: Why Jerkface is Killin’ It
Three things are distinctly odd about these images, both by Jerkface – as you see, Bugs Bunny is on canvas; Sylvester is on a wall. Read more
Posted on 23 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Interdisciplinarity is the Utopian Dream of an Academic Culture Whose Time is...
I was looking around over at dana boyd’s joint, apophenia, and came across an old post: identity crisis: the curse/joy of being interdisciplinary and the... Read more
Posted on 22 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: New York's Times Square from the Jersey Side
Obviously you can't see Times Square from across the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey. But you can see the tops of buildings around it. Read more
Posted on 21 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why Cultural Evolution Needs a Distinction Between “Genes” and “Phenotypes”
I’m thinking I’m about to burn out on cultural evolution, so this will be relatively short and informal. * * * * * Ever since I began thinking about a... Read more
Posted on 21 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Co-learning Models: Meta-Cognition, Democratic Schools, and Entrepreneurs
I have some brief reactions to three of the topics that came up in last evening’s webinar Connected Courses webinar, Successful Co-learning Models:... Read more
Posted on 20 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Beethoven in Memphis
In 1838 Ole Bull, the Norwegian violin virtuoso, gave the first classical concert ever heard in Memphis, Tennessee. I don’t know what he played on that occasion... Read more
Posted on 19 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Green Villain Plots Galactic Skywriting Program from Secret R&D Lab on the...
Green Villain has enlisted the services of Bradley Ehrsam to craft the technology that will take it out of this world. These hyper-flux transducers have two... Read more
Posted on 19 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Learning to Learn and Co-learning, NOW
I have a few remarks in response to the recent dialog with Howard Rheingold, Mia Zamora, Alec Couros, Lee Skallerup Bessette, Charlotte Pierce, and Joe Corneli... Read more
Posted on 19 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Marc Andreeson on Online Education
New York Magazine interviews Marc Andreeson, co-founder of Netscape turned venture capitalist. Here's what he says about online education, with some skeptical... Read more
Posted on 18 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Blacks, Blues, and Soul Sickness: Lynching and Racism in the USofA
I've posted this before, about a year ago, but I'm bumping to the top in view of yesterday's 3QD piece about America's cultural psychology. Read more
Posted on 18 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Urban Geometry: Light and Shadows
This is a shot of Manhattan's West side: What interests me is the play of light and shadows. I took the shot in the mid-afternoon with the sun to the South... Read more
Posted on 17 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
It’s Time for America to Reinvent Itself Top to Bottom
But that’s not what I titled this month’s article at 3 Quarks Daily. I gave it a somewhat more provocative title, American Craziness: Where it Came from and... Read more
Posted on 17 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Intention and Reading: Red Chair and Masters of the Universe
What’s going on in that photograph? I know, it’s subjective; you see things differently than I. But I shot it, so I ought to know, but do it? Read more
Posted on 15 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Pedagogical Styles 2: Lectures, and Beyond…
It’s time to follow up my previous pedagogical post, on music and Socrates (that is, coaching and midwifery), with a one on lecturing, a rather different... Read more
Posted on 14 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: The Intersection of Dreams and Reality in Light
I took all of these photos on the same walk, yesterday evening along and near the shore in Hoboken, using more or less the same technique, a long-exposure in I... Read more
Posted on 14 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Dennett's Santa Fe Workshop on Cultural Evolution
In May of this year philosopher Dan Dennett convened a workshop on cultural evolution at the Santa Fe Institute. The following were in attendance: Susan... Read more
Posted on 13 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Spot the Helicopter
Hint: It's near the center, on a border between gold and dark and flying to the right. I wasn't quite quick enough to get it entirely in the gold, which is... Read more
Posted on 12 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Myth-Logic: St. Christopher with the Head of a Dog
It seems that in Orthodox Catholicism St. Christopher is sometimes depicted as having a dog's head. Jonathan Pageau has an interesting article about this. Read more
Posted on 12 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
