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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Domestic Matters, So Colorful (& Better Than Pop-Tarts)
Posted on 30 May 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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We'll Know We've Reached the Mythical "AGI" When We Can Create Autonomous...
Tyler Cowen recently had a conversation with Michael Nielson, which ranged all over the place, as Cowen's conversations tend to do. Read more
Posted on 30 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Jewish Humor: “You Outta Try It, It’s Better Than Ham” [All in the Family] [Medi...
From the YouTube page, in turn taken from here: "A Perfectly Imperfect Eulogy: Archie Bunker’s best friend, Stretch Cunningham, died unexpectedly of a heart... Read more
Posted on 30 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Upstairs Downstairs [not a TV Show]
Posted on 29 May 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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How to Build & Understand GPTs
This conversation runs for over three hours. I've not yet listened to the whole thing. I'm about 2 hours and 15 minutes in, and that's taken me three or four... Read more
Posted on 29 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ramble on ChatGPT, GOATLiC, Intelligence, and Stuff
Once again my brain is all jammed up so I’m having trouble getting anything done. Why? Because there are these things I want to do, things I know I should do,... Read more
Posted on 29 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Geometry of Intelligence: From Protein Folding to Language and the...
Fabian Offert, Paul Kim, Qiaoyu Cai, Synthesizing Proteins on the Graphics Card. Protein Folding and the Limits of Critical AI Studies, arXiv:2405. Read more
Posted on 29 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Metaverse Won't Work Because It Will Be Too Slow for Interpersonal Synch
It has to do with timing lags over the internet. The auditory system is very sensitive. Adam Neely starts explaining at about 5:18, where he's talking about... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Innovation Rate and Population Structure Moderate the Effect of Population Size...
Bluet, A., Osiurak, F. Reynaud, E. Innovation rate and population structure moderate the effect of population size on cumulative technological culture. Humani... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is There a Robo-boss in Your Future?
David Streitfeld, If A.I. Can Do Your Job, Maybe It Can Also Replace Your C.E.O., NYTimes, May 28, 2024. The opening paragraphs: As artificial intelligence... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How the US Manufactured 300K Airplanes for WWII in Five Years
Brian Potter, How to Build 300,000 Airplanes in Five Years, Construction Physics, May 23, 2024. This is a long and fascinating article. I'm not going to... Read more
Posted on 26 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sterling K. Brown Takes the Hot Ones Challenge [Media Notes 124]
From the YouTube page: Sterling K. Brown is an Emmy, SAG, and Golden Globe Award–winning actor you know from beloved TV and film projects like This Is Us and... Read more
Posted on 26 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How Legal Twitter (RIP) Became a Source of Legal Talent and Eventually Filed Sui...
John Leland, How a Profane Joke on Twitter Spawned a Legal Army, NYTimes, May 26, 2024. This is a fascinating story about what was once Legal Twitter (now... Read more
Posted on 26 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is “Kind of Blue” the Greatest Jazz Album Ever?
That’s been said. But, while I love the album, I find the idea that there is some GOAT (greatest of all time) jazz album to be empty. Ted Gioia discusses Kind o... Read more
Posted on 25 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Notes on Photographing Irises
Most of these observations apply to other types of flowers as well, but I’m using irises as my example. I think of this as a “canonical” iris. Read more
Posted on 25 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
George Miller Talks About 45 Years of Mad Max [Media Notes 123]
This is a fascinating tour of visual tropes. Even if you’ve never seen a Mad Max film or don’t care for them, this is worth watching. Read more
Posted on 25 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
South Park: The End of Obesity + Unfrosted [Media Notes 122]
I’ve just watched South Park: The End of Obesity, more or less on general principle and out of curiosity. I’ve known about South Park more or less since it... Read more
Posted on 25 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hayato Sumino Plays (the **** Ouf Of) Rhapsody in Blue
Sumino improvises throughout. Starting at 6:35 he plays a duet with himself on melodica. And at about 14:25 he plays a short upper register trill which, I'm tol... Read more
Posted on 25 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
ChatGPT on the Golden Rule and Kant’s Second Categorical Imperative...
The Golden Rule and Kant’s Second Categorial Imperative are moral principles and, like all moral principles they are abstract in character. Read more
Posted on 24 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Unfrosted @ 3QD: More Than a Blooper Reel [Media Notes 119 G]
I’ve now got a piece about Unfrosted at 3 Quarks Daily: Pop-Tarts Re-frosted: An allegory about creativity in a corporatized world? I keep thinking about it.... Read more
Posted on 24 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
