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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The Next Level: Universal Children and a New Humanity
The child is father to the man. –Wordsworth In countless conversations–on the phone, through email, above all, in person–David Hays and I cobbled together a... Read more
Posted on 02 October 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Camp Meetings, Music, and the Civil War: Some Quick Notes on Culture as a...
According to Robert Fogel (The Fourth Great Awakening the Future of Egalitarianism) what we might call the “spiritual capital” needed to fight the Civil War... Read more
Posted on 01 October 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Emily Allison Turonis, Hoboken Arts & Music, 2014
I've got more shots of her below, but I want you to look at that one for a few seconds before moving on. There's a quiet dignity and determination: Good old... Read more
Posted on 01 October 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Trust, Building, and a “Personal Learning Network”
PLN? What’s that? “Personal learning network,” you say. Well, OK, but it feels a bit like saying that my legs are my personal locomotion appendages. Read more
Posted on 30 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Just Where is the Mind Located, Anyhow?
We all know that it's in the head and, within the head, in the brain. Beyond that, though, things are a bit murky, as (modern neuroscience not withstanding) we... Read more
Posted on 30 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Dancing in the Streets: Hoboken 2014
Yesterday was Hoboken’s Arts and Music Festival and a good time was certainly had by many. The good news is that there was dancing in the streets. Read more
Posted on 29 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is Western Culture an Illusion?
I published this on The Valve in 2006, but as the following note indicates, it's older than that. It bears on the notion of evolutionary lineage in culture. Read more
Posted on 29 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Of Marshmallows and Will-Power
From The Atlantic: Urist: I have to ask you about President Clinton and Tiger Woods, both mentioned in the book. I’ve heard of “decision fatigue”—are their... Read more
Posted on 29 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
You Too Can Spot Sprites in the Sky for Science
From the NYTimes: Armed with sensitive cameras and radio telescopes, Mr. Ashcraft hunts for sprites — majestic emanations of light that flash for an instant hig... Read more
Posted on 29 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ring Composition: Some Notes on a Particular Literary Morphology
Another working paper (title above): SSRN page: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2502556 Abstract: Ring-composition is an ancient way of ordering narratives, but it... Read more
Posted on 28 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What’s It Mean, Minds Are Built from the Inside?
In my recent post arguing that “superintelligent” computers are somewhere between very unlikely to impossible, I asserted: “This hypothetical device has to... Read more
Posted on 28 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ontology in Perception and Thought
Yesterday I published Redefining the Coming Singularity – It’s not what you think, in which I speculated about the future of computing technology. Read more
Posted on 27 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Jersey City Graffiti 3: A Guide to Photos, Sites, and Links
This is the third part of a three-part article. Part 1 is here while Part 2 is here. I originally published it on Sept. 25, 2007 at The Valve. A lot has... Read more
Posted on 27 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: The Revolution Will Wear a Pink Dress
Last week I went out to Maker Faire 2014 to see Brave New Things, an exhibit on hardware hacking put together by my friend, Tiby Kantrowitz: "Crack apart,... Read more
Posted on 26 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Redefining the Coming Singularity – It’s Not What You Think
“The interests of humanity may change, the present curiosities in science may cease, and entirely different things may occupy the human mind in the future. Read more
Posted on 26 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Weaving Yourself Through Fabric
Last weekend I went out to Queens to see my friend Tiby's exhibit of Brave New Things at Maker Faire 2014. I also saw a lot of strange things. Read more
Posted on 25 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Time's Arrow in Literary Space: Irreversibility on Three Scales
Here's a not-so-old post from The Valve (March 2010) on a topic that fascinates me. I first published it on New Savanna on June 6, 2011. Read more
Posted on 25 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why Teach? Obvious: to Change the World
Why do I teach? Well, I haven’t done so for years, except casually and by the by, and I didn’t much enjoy it when I was doing it? So, why do you want to teach... Read more
Posted on 24 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Jamming at Jadzia’s
I told my old buddy Dave Porush about last Saturday’s party at Jadzia’s International Emporium of Mystery and Conviviality and he said: “Building world peace on... Read more
Posted on 24 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
We Are Music
Jay Schulkin and Greta B. Raglan The evolution of music and human social capability Frontiers in Neuroscience, 17 September 2014 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2014. Read more
Posted on 24 September 2014 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
