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 ( 6570 )
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Sinatra on Song
From his Playboy interview in 1963:Sinatra: ... I get an audience involved, personally involved in a song—because I’m involved myself. It’s not something I do... Read more
Posted on 20 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Mad Men: Some Brief Notes
I've been working my way through back episodes of Mad Men–I don't have cable, so I can't watch the current episodes. Interesting show. But what's it about? Read more
Posted on 19 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Celebrity Philosophers: Russell, Sartre, and Comments by Harman
Graham Harman has had two recent posts on celebrity philosophers. The first looks at a NYTimes column on the subject and defends Žižek: he may be a celebrity,... Read more
Posted on 19 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Live Music is Good for Premature Infants
Reported in The New York Times:Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City led the research, conducted in 11 hospitals, which found that live music can be... Read more
Posted on 15 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Automated Grading
By now you've probably read, in one context or another, about the use of computers to grade essay questions. And perhaps you've asked yourself, "How's that... Read more
Posted on 14 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Graffiti: It's the Name That Does It
Henry Chalfant, one of the first to document graffiti, says:"The irony is I think it's the name, the writing your name, which caused it to become universally... Read more
Posted on 11 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Empaths and Gangstas
An old post about an episode from the original Star Trek–"The Empath"–and what it tells us about the cultural psychodynamics of racism.Back in 1988 Jesse Jackso... Read more
Posted on 10 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Neuroaesthetics?
Conway BR, Rehding A (2013) Neuroaesthetics and the Trouble with Beauty. PLoS Biol 11(3): e1001504. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001504Note that here... Read more
Posted on 08 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Animated Acting: Sporn on Tytla
Vladimir Tytla was one of the great Disney animators. He was just before the era of the so-called "nine old men," but is arguably better than any of them. Read more
Posted on 08 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Animated Acting
We all know that Marlon Brando was a Method actor, and that The Method has roots in the work of the Russian director, Stanislavski. You know who else was a... Read more
Posted on 07 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Skepticism About Obama's Brain Project
"When you look at the cerebellum it's a godawful mess" says Randy Gallistel, and its circuitry is very regular. Some remarks at blogginheads.tv:BTW, the whole... Read more
Posted on 07 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Citizen Science, That Means YOU
Science isn't just for scientists. It's for all of us. Here's a study of 11,000 citizen scientists involved with a single project:Galaxy Zoo: Motivations of... Read more
Posted on 05 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Indiana Philosophy "Ontology" Project
Here's the link. It takes you to the front door.I've put "ontology" in scare quotes because the term is used as it is in computer science, which is not quite it... Read more
Posted on 05 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Frog Up Ponyo Sita: Complacency Vs. Vision
An old post in which I talk about Disney (The Princess and the Frog), Pixar (Up), Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea), and Nina Paley (Sits Sings... Read more
Posted on 05 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What Bryant Knows About Mary, Sorta: More on Color and Consciousness
The Bryant I have in mind is, of course, Levi Bryant, who has come in for severe criticism on this blog. And Mary, of course, is the fictional Mary invented by... Read more
Posted on 03 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is Hyperactivity for Real?
The opening paragraphs of an article in The New York Times:Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Slavery and Capitalism in 19th Century America
Walter Johnson, in The New York Times:Every year, British merchant banks advanced millions of pounds to American planters in anticipation of the sale of the... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Syhchronizing Chimps?
I my thinking about music I have emphasized the simple fact that it involves close synchronization with others. As such synchrony seems neurally simple–fireflie... Read more
Posted on 30 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Musician's Journal: The Magic of the Bell
This experience has had a profound effect on how I think about music. I used a reworked version to open the second chapter of Beethoven's Anvil: Music in Mind... Read more
Posted on 30 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Many Genes Are Completely New Inventions and Not Just Modified Copies of Old...
Summary (from Phys.Org):It is easier to copy something than to develop something new - a principle that was long believed to also apply to the evolution of... Read more
Posted on 27 March 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY