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 ( 7846 )
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Breaking Bad, All Twisted Pretty
A couple of days ago I saw the one James Atlas–about whom I have heard, a bit–had and op-ed in the NYTimes entitled “Get a Life? No Thanks. Just Pass the... Read more
Posted on 24 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Linguistic Diversity and Universal Grammar
One of the most important ideas to come from the Chomsky program of linguistic thought is the idea of universal grammar (aka UG), a "deep" structure of human... Read more
Posted on 23 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Samurai Champloo: Graffiti and Baseball in Old Japan
This post originally appeared in The Valve in August of 2006. I’m reprinting it here for several reasons. In the first place, the screen shots no longer show... Read more
Posted on 22 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Superstars No More: Saturation?
From Tyler Cowen:If I approach this question from a more general angle of cultural history, I find the diminution of superstars in particular areas not very... Read more
Posted on 22 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Roles in Cultural Selection: Replicators, Interactors, and Beneficiaries, Or,...
Once again, cultural evolution, and the problem of memes: What are they? Where are they? What do they do? While the general case does interest me, culture is... Read more
Posted on 21 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why We'll Never Be Able to Build Technology for Direct Brain-to-Brain...
Would it be possible, some time in the unpredictable future, for people to have direct brain-to-brain communication, perhaps using some amazing nanotechnology... Read more
Posted on 19 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Will Blockbuster's Go Bust This Summer?
The movie business is notoriously fickle. As screenwriter William Goldman has said "nobody knows anything" about the economics of making films. Read more
Posted on 17 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What is Philosophy?
I've just discovered (via Dan Dennett) to the work of Peter Godfrey-Smith, a philosopher of science with a particular interest in biology. Read more
Posted on 17 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
"Beam Me Up, Scotty"
According to the Wikipedia, that exact phrase never appeared in the original Star Trek, though a similar one did: "Scotty, beam us up. Read more
Posted on 16 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Star Trek
Matt Yglesias, who has watched every episode and movie in the Star Trek franchise, has written an appreciative essay about the whole lot of them. He regards... Read more
Posted on 16 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Neurohumanities, into the Gap?
The Nation has an article on "neurohumanities" which is more or less about neuro-, cognitive, and evolutionary psychology in this humanities. Read more
Posted on 14 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Animation, Acting, Drawing
In live action films, the actors get to interact with one another directly. When Capt. Willard talks with Col. Kurtz in Apocalpse Now, you have actors Martin... Read more
Posted on 13 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Culture Evolving: Egyptian Mahraganat Music Flowers in the Arab Spring
In just a few years, these and other young musicians have created a new genre of youth-driven, socially conscious music and forced it on the Egyptian soundscape. Read more
Posted on 12 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Leaves of Grass
Posted on 11 May 2013
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Trees and Waves in the Evolution of Culture
The 19th century thinkers who saw evolutionary processes the biological world also saw them in culture. While evolutionary thinking about culture persisted... Read more
Posted on 10 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Romantic Love, Conversation, Biology, and Culture
Note: This post grew out of reflection on older earlier post on bundling.This was also cross-posted at The Valve, now closed for renovation. Read more
Posted on 10 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Bit of the Textured Aerosol
Posted on 08 May 2013
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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More on Dennett on Memes
Still thinking about Dan Dennett's conception of memetics. He's got an article in the Encyclopedia of Evolution (Oxford 2005), "New Replicators, The" that's... Read more
Posted on 08 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Nautilus: A New Science Glossy
The New York Times gives notice of a new glossy science magazine, Nautilus: Science Connected, and reflects on the boom and bust of science journalism in the... Read more
Posted on 08 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Words That Have Survived 15,000 Years Across Europe and Asia
From the Washington Post:The traditional view is that words can’t survive for more than 8,000 to 9,000 years. Evolution, linguistic “weathering” and the adoptio... Read more
Posted on 08 May 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
