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 ( 7356 )
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The Hays Tradition in Cognition
In scientific prognostication we have a condition analogous to a fact of archery–the farther back you are able to draw your longbow, the farther ahead you can... Read more
Posted on 26 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Crisis in a High-Tech Start-Up: A Case of Collective Action
I’m interested in collective creativity, in how creative activity in lodged in groups. I’ve explored this topic in a number of recent posts, perhaps most... Read more
Posted on 25 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Diane Disney Miller, RIP
From Mike Barrier's site:She died yesterday [Nov. 19] at the age of 79, as everyone knows by now, after suffering a fall in late September that left her in a... Read more
Posted on 25 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Free Jazz: A William Parker Workshop
On Wednesday 13 February 2002 I attended a workshop conducted by William Parker. It was held in downtown Manhattan at 228 W. Broadway. Read more
Posted on 25 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Light and Relationships, an Ontology
Posted on 25 November 2013
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The Poverty of Conceptual Blending for Literary Analysis
Not so long ago I critiqued Lakoff and Turner’s analysis of “To a Solitary Disciple” in terms of conceptual metaphor. I now want to do the same for conceptual... Read more
Posted on 24 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Another Nail in the Coffin of the Idea of Lone Genius
From "A Little Society", by Casey N. Cep, boldface mine:Despite Charlotte Brontë’s insistence that her sister Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, the rumor that thei... Read more
Posted on 24 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Conjunctions
This conjunction spans, what? 240,000 miles and the ontological gap between the living and the non-living.This one spans the distance between Hoboken and Midtow... Read more
Posted on 24 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Origin of Golf, a Just-So Story Involving Shepherds and Pebbles
‘Pleasures are more beneficial than duties, because, like the quality of mercy, they are not strained, and they are twice blessed.’ – R. L. S. Read more
Posted on 24 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tip: Create a Your Own Randomizer
Whoever you are, whatever you do, if you’re serious about it, then you need a RANDOMIZER, some routine that regularly bumps you into unexpected stuff. Read more
Posted on 23 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Rise and Fall of Steven Fitzhugh Regensburg, Horn Maker to the ADA
As you know, Steve Regensburg was a drop-out from Harvard business school when he got the idea of combining bits and pieces of used plumbing with military... Read more
Posted on 23 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Cognitivism for the Critic, in Four & a Parable
I published this in The Valve in March of 2010. It's a guide on how to get on board with the computational thinking that's the driver in the so-called "cognitiv... Read more
Posted on 22 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Intensities, Light at the Threshold of Pain
This series was in part inspired by Mark Changizi's remarks on visual pain.Beyond this, I wonder: Are these photographs? Well, of course they are. I took them... Read more
Posted on 22 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Above and Beyond, from Golf to Blues
I was rummaging around on my hard-drive, looking for something I know is there, someplace, or at least it was, some time long ago – I mean, there’s stuff on thi... Read more
Posted on 22 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Recent Trends in Continental Thought: A Parable in Flowers
BeingBecoming The End of Western Metaphysics Read more
Posted on 21 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Bleg: Memory for Serial Order
I’m looking for ethnographic evidence about how people recall events. I’ve got my own personal experience, which is just that, and I’ve got accounts in two... Read more
Posted on 21 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Posted on 20 November 2013
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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5Pointz is Dead! Long Live Graffiti!
It’s been coming for some time now, the death of 5Pointz. The building’s owner, Jerry Wolkoff, decided to cash in on his investment, as is his right, and put... Read more
Posted on 20 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
It Takes a Village…to Tell a Story, to Mount a Play, to Make a Film
For some time now the exemplary situation I bring to mind when I think about literature (and, increasingly over the last decade, film) is that of the tribal... Read more
Posted on 19 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
From Today's Catch
Here's the dilemma of the American politician. Over there on the far right of the picture you see the Statue of Liberty, given to America by the people of... Read more
Posted on 18 November 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
