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 ( 7805 )
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It’s Complicated 3: Social Manipulation in a Culture of Fear
danah boyd. It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens (Yale UP 2014). Let’s start with a footnote to Chapter 4, “Danger: Are Sexual Predators Lurkin... Read more
Posted on 12 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ancient Graffiti
Found Amid the Crumbling Infrastructure of Jersey City, NJ Emily Gowers reviews Kristina Milnor, Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii (Oxford UP... Read more
Posted on 12 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Culture of Enhancement
The adoption by journalist to the phrase "EIT" is the clearest evidence of bullshit objectivity. — Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) December 11, 2014 Is it... Read more
Posted on 11 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Natural Causes of Language: Frames, Biases, and Cultural Transmission
From the blurb: Because bits of language are always parts of systems, we also need to show how it is that items of knowledge and behavior become structured... Read more
Posted on 11 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Reading Latour: Assembling the Society of Graffiti
No scholar should find humiliating the task of description. This is, on the contrary, the highest and rarest achievement. —Bruno Latour Bruno Latour.... Read more
Posted on 10 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
It’s Complicated 2: Graffiti and Public Space
You are looking at two of the handful of arches known in Jersey City collectively as the Bergen Arches. In my experience, while many people have heard of “the... Read more
Posted on 09 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
It’s Complicated 1: Escaping on a Raft in Cyberspace
Farewell to freedom on the Adriatic and to days of wild abandon. – Hayao Miazaki Are we heading toward a world in which our activities in the physical world... Read more
Posted on 08 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Beyond Interdisciplinarity #2: The Seven Liberal Arts Aren't Disciplines Either
For reasons I can’t quite articulate, I remain convinced that INTERDISCIPLINARITY is a lost cause. It’s the utopian desire of disciplinarity, whatever that is,... Read more
Posted on 07 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Connected from Birth: You, Your Double, and Cyberspace
Unit 6 – Class 2: Connecting to the IndieWeb Movement This session will explore the IndieWeb movement as a people-centered response to the corporate web. Read more
Posted on 06 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Loser in Jersey City
Dates are when the photo was taken. All locations are in Jersey City. November 20, 2007: Five Corners November 28, 2014: Pep Boys May 22, 2011: Communipaw Avenu... Read more
Posted on 05 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why Has Progress Slowed Down?
Lot’s of people have been asking that question in the last few years. Michael Hanlon writes in Aeon: The notion that our 21st-century world is one of... Read more
Posted on 04 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
In Honor of Our Future Robot Overlords, Let’s Conduct a Thought Experiment:...
Let's arrange some propositions along a scale from -10, totally unbelievable, to +10, totally believable. For example: (1) The sun will come up tomorrow. +10 (2... Read more
Posted on 04 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
“VICTORY IS MINE!” – Active Engagement with Computing in Connected Learning
I have a few comments – really just one – about the December 1 Webinar: Connected by Design: In this session Kim Jaxon, Jaimie Hoffman, Danielle Astengo,... Read more
Posted on 03 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Rereading Goethe’s Faust 2: An Unnatural Act and a Change of Plan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Faust, Parts One and Two. George Madison Priest, tr. New York City: Alfred A Knopf. 1963. It’s been a slog. Read more
Posted on 02 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
On the Waterfront, Starship USS Hoboken and Space Shuttle Limulus Polyphemus
Posted on 01 December 2014
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The Day “The Juice” Died
“The Juice,” of course, is OJ Simpson, running back extraordinaire. And – I know – he’s not dead. He’s currently doing 33 years in a Nevada prison on various... Read more
Posted on 01 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Who Owns and Controls Public Space? Increasingly, It's the .01%
First came REVS COST, then the High Line followed. Media mogul Barry Diller has just pledged a bucket load of cash to build a new public park in the Hudson Rive... Read more
Posted on 01 December 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Distort Shreds It on the Pep Boys Wall
Posted on 30 November 2014
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The Codger Web: Virtual Villages Connecting Cyberspace and Meatspace
Conjunctions between virtual space and physical space: retirees, teens, and graffiti writers. The New York Times is running an article about virtual villages... Read more
Posted on 30 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Rereading Goethe’s Faust 1: From Man to a Cosmic Epic
I had forgotten that the Faust legend, and hence Goethe’s epic drama, was ultimately based on the life of a real person, Georg Faust. Read more
Posted on 29 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
