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 ( 6820 )
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Synch and Society, Two Articles: A Synthesis and Review and a Study of Applause
Here's a review and synthesis of recent work and thinking on human synchrony (from the Dartmouth lab of Thalia Wheatley):Thalia Wheatley, Olivia Kang, Carolyn... Read more
Posted on 19 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Contemporary Studio Space, Circumstantial Curation
Posted on 18 June 2013 CREATIVITY, SELF EXPRESSION -
Ponyo for Adults
Reposted from a year and a half ago. Miyazaki is always worth thinking about.We know, of course, that cartoons aren’t just for kids, right? Read more
Posted on 17 June 2013 CULTURE, MOVIES, PHILOSOPHY -
Some Varieties of Light Experience
Posted on 16 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Essay-Reviews: Origins of Music, Neuromemetics
I've recently uploaded two essay-reviews to my SSRN page:Synch, Song, and Society. Human Nature Review, Volume 5, 2005, 66-86. Read more
Posted on 16 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
James Turrell, Artist of LIGHT
The New York Times has a fascinating article about this artist.It is difficult to say much more about the piece without descending into gibberish. This is one o... Read more
Posted on 16 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Music and Motion
A couple of months ago I posted a precis of "Music and movement share a dynamic structure that supports universal expressions of emotion" by Beau Sievers,... Read more
Posted on 15 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
History and Future of Higher Education
HASTAC is organizing a course on this topic. From the course description:This is a curated collection of blog posts and op ed pieces on "The History and Future... Read more
Posted on 15 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Culture Memes Information WTF!
I’ve been thinking a lot about information recently, mostly as a consequence of reading Dan Dennett on memetics. I’m uncomfortable with his usage, and similar... Read more
Posted on 14 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Gene/culture Co-evolution
Over at Language Log Mark Liberman has a good post on gene/culture co-evolution. The point of departure is an opinion piece that Simon Fisher and Matt Ridley... Read more
Posted on 13 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sympathy for Others and the Old Squash and Stretch, Aka Sympathy for the Objects
Here we go again. It's complicated, but not really.The research is about the ability of 10-month old infants to feel empathy for others. That's nice, and not... Read more
Posted on 13 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Smile, and the Whole World Anticipates It
From Medical Express:Smile and the world smiles with you—but new research suggests that not all smiles are created equal. The research shows that people actuall... Read more
Posted on 13 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Primary Colors RGB
Reference: Read more
Posted on 13 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Gives New Meaning to Human-aided Translation
From The New York Times:Inspired by a harrowing episode when Mr. Frankel could not communicate the symptoms of a virulent stomach bug to a pharmacist in Beijing... Read more
Posted on 12 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Rheingold and Alexander on Tech and Higher Ed (MOOCs R Us?)
Bryan Alexander discusses high tech and higher education with Howard Rheingold HERE and HERE. (same video in each case, different framing). Read more
Posted on 11 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Napoleon Chagnon and the Yanomamo: Some Lore, Curious but Not Quaint
Napoleon Chagnon is one of the most controversial figures in anthropology. You can find a little background on him, and his work among the Yanomamo, in this pos... Read more
Posted on 11 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
From Xanadu to the American Dream
Sometime in the late 19th century a British poet named Samuel Taylor Coleridge read a 17th century travel book and came away with the name of Kubla Khan's summe... Read more
Posted on 10 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Liberty Swamp
Yes, that IS the Statue of Liberty you see there. But it's not how you're used to seeing it. Obviously. I'm standing in a small wetlands area (aka swamp) in... Read more
Posted on 10 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Silicon Valley and the High Tech Politics
I'm halfway through an interesting article with the following deck (blurb): "CHANGE THE WORLD: Silicon Valley transfers its slogans—and its money—to the realm o... Read more
Posted on 07 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Gay Disney?
Salon has an interesting article on the lack of gay and lesbian characters in Disney animation. It links to this Autostraddle post from last year: Evil Disney... Read more
Posted on 06 June 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY