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 New as the Remit for Ethical Criticism
Tim Parks in the NY Review of Books: As a reviewer of books she would often pan, Virginia Woolf thought one of the pleasures of reading contemporary novels was... Read more
Posted on 12 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Little Boat (Blind Date), Big River
Posted on 11 November 2014
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Co-Learning and the Fluid Future, Some Quick Remarks on the #etmooc Dialog
I just watched the #etmooc conversation, The Case of #etmooc: and have few quick remarks. Modeling, Vygotsky, learning to learn At one point Rhonda remarked:... Read more
Posted on 11 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Economics of the Transition from Arranged Marriage to Love Marriage in...
Gabriela Rubio of UC Merced, How Love Conquered Marriage: Theory and Evidence on the Disappearance of Arranged Marriages (PDF), abstract: Using a large number o... Read more
Posted on 11 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Flicks from the New Camera
Posted on 10 November 2014
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Apple HAS Become Big Brother
From the NYTimes: DUBLIN — It took nearly 30 years for “The Joshua Tree,” the 1987 album that was U2’s breakout ticket to megastardom, to reach 30 million... Read more
Posted on 10 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Anime Paradox: Why So Many Strong and Imaginative Female Characters When...
One of the attractive features of anime, and manga as well, is the wealth of strong women and girls. Yes, they may be kawaii to the max, but they are also smart... Read more
Posted on 10 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Fossils Falling Like Rain Revolutionize Our Understanding of the Deep Past
Reflecting on fossil finds in the NYTimes, Michael J. Novacek says: New findings accumulate like Olympic records. Here we are, in the age of the microchip and... Read more
Posted on 09 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Britain's Industrial Revolution Was Fueled by Innovation, Not by Coal
Yes, coal for sure. But it took a series of innovations to utilize coal effectively. Among other things. Anton Howes at Capitalism's Cradle: Perhaps the most... Read more
Posted on 09 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Crippled by Arthritis, Renoir Painted Through the Pain
From Open Culture: In this rare footage from 1915 we see the 74-year-old master seated at his easel, applying paint to a canvas while his youngest son Claude,... Read more
Posted on 09 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Terminology for Cultural Evolution: Coordinators and Phantasms
I’ve decided that it is time for some new terms. I’ve been using “meme” as the cultural analog for the biological “gene”, which is more or less the use that... Read more
Posted on 08 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Einstein Forum
From their website: Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg, was often a center of critical thinking. When Frederick the Great invited Voltaire to Sans Souci, or... Read more
Posted on 08 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What IS Science Fiction, Who the Bleep Are We, and Where Are We Going?
Paul Kincaid reviews The Oxford Handbook of Science Fiction in the Los Angeles Review of Books. What emerges is a report of a various, heterogeneous rhizomatic... Read more
Posted on 08 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Work-in-Progress, GVM004: Pep Boys Mural, Newport, Jersey City,...
Posted on 07 November 2014
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Cumulative Cultural Evolution: Group Think
Kat McGowan in Aeon: We think of innovation this way: a lone genius applies massive computational power to a problem, and a flash of insight brings about a... Read more
Posted on 07 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Wearable Cognition
James Kobielus at IBM: OK, I've never been good with faces and names. I am quite nearsighted. And I am getting older. But this is ridiculous. Read more
Posted on 07 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Pedagogical Styles 1: Coaching and Midwifery
In thinking about online teaching I decided to do a bit of thinking about teaching in general. I want to start with the one-on-one format of learning musical... Read more
Posted on 06 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Trees Basking in the Sun
Posted on 06 November 2014
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Mysteries of the 0.000001%: Mega Successful Entrepreneur Seeks Personal Assistant
Right now The New York Review of Books is running this ad in their classifieds: RESEARCH ASSOCIATE/PERSONAL ASSISTANT—Highly intelligent, resourceful individual... Read more
Posted on 06 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How I Freaked the Secret Service and Lived to Tell About It
This story, like many stories, is at the confluence of many streams. The story itself is a simple one, but to appreciate the simplicity you need to know... Read more
Posted on 05 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
