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 ( 7606 )
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Claude 3.5 Sonata Describes a Photo of Dawn in Liberty State Park
What are we looking at here? This image shows a scenic urban landscape view photographed during what appears to be sunrise or sunset, given the soft, ethereal... Read more
Posted on 15 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Educational Distribution of Adults in the 20 Largest Protestant Denominations...
Episcopalians are the most highly educated Protestant denomination. Followed by the PCUSA and the ELCA. The old trope that the mainline is filled with the... Read more
Posted on 15 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Henry Farrell: Biden Moves to Control Global AI
Henry Farrell, America’s plan to control global AI, Programmable Mutter, Jan. 15. 2025. The idea is to use export controls to restrict the selling and use of... Read more
Posted on 15 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Feminine Wiles Meets Masculine Energy [Antony and Cleopatra]
Posted on 15 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Super Zuck, Champion of “Masculine Energy”
Zeynep Tufekci, Zuckerberg’s Macho Posturing Looks a Lot Like Cowardice, NYTimes, Jan. 15. 2024. I really, really wanted to like Mark Zuckerberg’s gushing... Read more
Posted on 15 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.5 on the Origins of Psychotherapy
Another nod to my series of reflections on melancholy and creativity, which started with an article in 3 Quarks Daily: Melancholy and Growth: Toward a... Read more
Posted on 14 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.5 Sonata Describes a NYC Food Cart: Baked Potato King
While it started out as a fairly standard interaction with Claude 3.5, albeit a bit rocky here and there, it developed into a rather striking and interesting... Read more
Posted on 14 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Interstitial Urban Geometry [Hoboken]
Posted on 14 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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LLMs as Existential Interlocutors – What's It All About, Alfie?
Murray Shanahan and Beth Singler, Existential Conversations with Large Language Models: Content, Community, and Culture, arXiv:2411.13223v1. Read more
Posted on 14 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Revolution Will Be Written on Walls
Posted on 13 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Time for a {fashion} Revolution
Vanessa Friedman, It’s Time for a Fashion Revolution, NYTimes, Dec. 12, 2024: This year will be a year of seismic change in fashion. That much is a given. Read more
Posted on 13 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
#Elonald: An Apocalyptic Conjunction & the Contradictions of Capitalism
Donald Trump, President-Elect of the United States, and Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and a technological wizard, what a conjunction. Read more
Posted on 13 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ole Rømer Estimated the Speed of Light in 1676. He Was the First.
See this clip featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson. He begins by telling us that Galileo was the first one to attempt to measure the speed of light. Read more
Posted on 13 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.5 on Mental Growth in Adulthood
We’re back to my series of reflections on melancholy and creativity. As you may recall, it started with an article in 3 Quarks Daily: Melancholy and Growth:... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.5 Sonata Describes Jon Faddis Fronting a Big Band on the Waterfront at...
What’s going on? This image shows a jazz performance taking place in what appears to be a high-rise venue with a dramatic cityscape visible through the windows... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Emergent Permission Structures for Murder in the Digital Age
Killing With Applause: Emergent Permission Structures for Murder in the Digital Age, NCRI: Network Contagion Research Institute, Eaglton Institute of Politics,... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ezra Klein: Here Be Monsters. [The State of the World]
From The New York Times, Jan. 12, 2025, ChatGPT summarizes: The article "The Old World Is Breaking Down. A New One Is Breaking Through" by Ezra Klein discusses... Read more
Posted on 12 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.5 Sonata Describes the Infamous Green Pump Astride a Fire Hose Valve....
The way this conversation develops interesting. Of particular interest: When I reply “LOL!”, Claude recognizes that as ironic. How? What kind of contextual... Read more
Posted on 11 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Domestic Tranquillity
Posted on 11 January 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Martha [Media Notes 153] – Watch It, It’s Important.
I never paid all that much attention to Martha Stewart. I suppose I had a slightly negative impression, with little investment in it. Read more
Posted on 11 January 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
