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
-
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 )
-
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
-
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
-
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 -
Destination: SPACE!
NYTimes oped: In recent years I have interviewed a wide array of people involved in the private space industry, including both pilots involved in the crash on... Read more
Posted on 05 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Doctor is In...class
Though just where and how is a bit curious. The doctor I have in mind isn’t Lucy Van Pelt, but rather is, you know, The Doctor, of TV fame: Doctor Who.... Read more
Posted on 04 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How Dynamic is Word Meaning?
3:AM Magazine interviews philosopher Peter Ludlow: 3:AM: In your forthcoming book Living Words: Meaning Underdetermination and the Dynamic Lexicon you’re... Read more
Posted on 03 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Graffiti: Then and Now 2
October 25, 2006: October 7, 2014: There's not a great deal of change up on the bridges, which support an abandoned railroad track. Read more
Posted on 03 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Taking Notes, and Making Money from Them – as Old as the Lecture and as New as...
The New York Times, always a trendsetter, dontcha' know, has an interesting article on commercial none-taking; taking notes in a college course and selling them... Read more
Posted on 02 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
In Memory of Bill Powers
Just yesterday I learned that Bill Powers had died on May 24, 2013. Powers was an independent scholar and investigator. He came from an engineering background,... Read more
Posted on 02 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hoboken Halloween Parade
Posted on 02 November 2014
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
-
Same Old Same Old: Welcome to the New Mediocrity
While a new world awaits, the old one just vamps 'till ready. Vanessa Friedman, Mired in Mediocrity, The New York Times: WELCOME to the “new mediocre.” It’s... Read more
Posted on 02 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
ADHD Explained?
Richard Friedman in the NYTimes: Recent neuroscience research shows that people with A.D.H.D. are actually hard-wired for novelty-seeking — a trait that had,... Read more
Posted on 01 November 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Old Trix 3
By "old trix" I mean extensive photoshopping, something I experimented with some years ago, but then slacked off. Anyone how uses Photoshop really ought to... Read more
Posted on 31 October 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Literary History, Temporal Orders, and Many Worlds
What, you might ask, does many worlds theory have to do with literary history? One is science while the other is, well, humanities I guess. And ne’er the twain... Read more
Posted on 31 October 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
