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 ( 7808 )
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Dredging up a Forgotten Language out of One's Past
Julie Sedivy was borm in Czechoslovakia but emigrated to America as a small child. Writing at Language Log, she notes, "Like many immigrants, I’d learned my... Read more
Posted on 17 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Has Dennett Undercut His Own Position on Words as Memes?
Early in 2013 Dan Dennett had an interview posted at John Brockman’s Edge site, The Normal Well-Tempered Mind. He opened by announcing that he’d made a mistake... Read more
Posted on 15 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Strange Workings of Community: in the Wake of Lincoln's Assassination
From today's NYTimes: To Mattie Jackson, a runaway slave, the tidings of Lincoln’s death felt like “an electric shock to my soul.” Many refused to believe it. Read more
Posted on 14 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Art Online
Sylvain Levy at AsiaPacific Magazine: Yet most private collections are still in the “Digital Stone Age”; according to the website Larry’s List, in 2014 only 12... Read more
Posted on 12 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Glossary of Terms for Cultural Evolution
This is a short list of terms that I have come to treat as terms of art in thinking about cultural evolution. I have no idea how stable these terms and... Read more
Posted on 10 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Chicago's Millennium Park
I bought my first camera about a decade ago to take photos of Chicago's Millennium Park the summer it opened. Here are some of those photos. Read more
Posted on 10 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
In Praise of Apple's New Watch
Farhad Mangoo in the NYTimes: It was only on Day 4 that I began appreciating the ways in which the elegant $650 computer on my wrist was more than just another... Read more
Posted on 08 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Dennett on the De-Darwinizing of Culture
This recent video (talk given 19 March 2015) gathers many of Dennett's recent themes and examples. The central thread is worthwhile – Dennett's only idea on... Read more
Posted on 08 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Lewontin: There is No Niche Without an Organism
David Sloam Wilson (DSL) interviews Richard Lewontin (RL) on adaptation and evolution. They start the conversation with the classic article Lewontin... Read more
Posted on 06 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Bell Magic and Spirits at 3 Quarks Daily
My intellectual life has tended to revolve around various specific examples that I examine closely and revisit from time to time. Read more
Posted on 06 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Homeostasis: What's the Cultural Analogue?
Oliver Sacks has an essay on wellness and dis-ease that ranges over migraines and his recent cancer treatment. His opening paragraph reminded me of Dawkins on... Read more
Posted on 05 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Kids: Tickle Danger, Tinker, Learn, and Grow
From a NYTimes oped by Allison Arieff: If we want to raise kids to be independent thinkers and change-makers, one of the best things we can do is give them the... Read more
Posted on 04 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Ghosts Along the Hudson
[taken this afternoon] The building in the middle is the church of St. John the Divine, on NYC's upper West Side: The George Washington Bridge in the distance:... Read more
Posted on 03 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Mad Men on the Moon
“That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” – Neil Armstrong, July 21, 1969 I don't know whether you've been following Mad Men, but I have... Read more
Posted on 02 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Fairly Standard Photoshoppery
This photo has been turning up regularly in my "most viewed" stats at Flickr: It's a night-time shot of an industrial building in Jersey City. Read more
Posted on 01 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Documentary About John Von Neumann
Von Neumann was one of the greatest thinkers of the previous century, perhaps best known for his work on computing and game theory. Read more
Posted on 01 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Notes Toward a Natural Philosophy of Cultural Evolution in the Music Domain
The title of my book about music, Beethoven’s Anvil, was suggest by my agent, Richard Curtis. I made up the subtitle (I think): Music in Mind and Culture. Read more
Posted on 01 April 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Time After Time: Music and Memory in the Group
Or, messing around in one another’s mind space for fun and funk This is about a simple, but profound, matter: that we cannot always and reliably access the... Read more
Posted on 31 March 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Memetics is Dead but What’s the Study of Cultural Evolution Otherwise About?
In the waning years of the previous century an online journal for serious work in cultural evolution was established: Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models... Read more
Posted on 30 March 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Flickr Picks
These are the photos that have been getting attention in the last day over at my Flickr site. Read more
Posted on 27 March 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
