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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Friday Fotos: Flowers & Flowers and More Flowers
Posted on 10 May 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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What HAS AI Changed? What WILL It Change?
The answers to those questions range between “nothing” and “everything” depending on this and that. What is the scope of the question, earth only, or the whole... Read more
Posted on 10 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Has Generative AI Already Peaked?
This paper is discussed in the video: Vishaal Udandarao, Ameya Prabhu, Adhiraj Ghosh, et al., No "Zero-Shot" Without Exponential Data: Pretraining Concept... Read more
Posted on 09 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Turning Point in Hoboken
Posted on 09 May 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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What Do I Personally Want from an AI? [as Soon as Possible, Too, NOT in the...
I can think of two things off the top of my head: 1) an assistant to deal with my computing needs, and 2) a system to examine literary texts, movies, and other... Read more
Posted on 09 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Interpretation and Judgement in Literary Criticism
Nicholas Dames John Plotz discuss Professing Criticism: Essays on the Organization of Literary Study with the book’s author, John Guillory, over at Public... Read more
Posted on 08 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
There's More Unhappiness on the Political Left Than on the Right
Thomas B. Edsall, The Happiness Gap Between Left and Right Isn’t Closing, NYTimes, May 8, 2024. Why is it that a substantial body of social science research... Read more
Posted on 08 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Whale Vocalization, Phonemes? (was Disney There First?)
Carl Zimmer, Scientists Find an ‘Alphabet’ in Whale Songs, NYTimes, May 7, 2024. Ever since the discovery of whale songs almost 60 years ago, scientists have... Read more
Posted on 07 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Three Pansy-scapes in Hoboken
Posted on 07 May 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Obesity is a Biochemical Problem, Not a Moral One [Big Food, Bigger Bodies]
Johann Hari, A Year on Ozempic Taught Me We’re Thinking About Obesity All Wrong, NYTimes, May 7, 2024. Ever since I was a teenager, I have dreamed of shedding... Read more
Posted on 07 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Breakfast Elements
Posted on 07 May 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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ChatGPT Outlines a Sequel to Unfrosted [Media Notes 119 C]
When I’d posted my remarks on Seinfeld’s Unfrosted, I figured that was pretty much it. But I kept on thinking about it: Seinfeld’s a stone-cold comic genius,... Read more
Posted on 07 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Brancing out in Hoboken
Posted on 06 May 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Jerry Seinfeld on Club Random with Bill Maher – Pop Tarts! [Media Notes 119 B]
From the YouTube page: Bill Maher and Jerry Seinfeld on the gift Bill gave Jerry, Jerry’s attention to detail, the car Jerry picked up Bill in for Comedians in... Read more
Posted on 06 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tulip Extravaganza
Posted on 05 May 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Cultural Evolution: A Review of Theoretical Challenges [& a Note on Language]
Nichols R, Charbonneau M, Chellappoo A, et al. Cultural evolution: A review of theoretical challenges. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2024;6:e12.... Read more
Posted on 05 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A View from the Table
Posted on 05 May 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Intelligence, A.I. and Analogy: Jaws & Girard, Kumquats & MiGs, Double-entry...
Think of this post as an adjunct to my series on A.I., chess, and language, which is about the structure of computation in relation to difficult problems. Read more
Posted on 05 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Unfrosted: The Pop-Tarts Story [Media Notes 119]
Was it funny? Yes. Worth watching? I suppose. But it wasn’t the laugh-out-loud hilarity fest I was hoping for. It wasn’t Duck Soup for the 21st century. I like... Read more
Posted on 04 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Evidence of Predictive Coding Hierarchy in the Human Brain Listening to Speech
Charlotte Caucheteux, Alexandre Gramfort, Jean-Rémi King, Evidence of a predictive coding hierarchy in the human brain listening to speech, Nature Human... Read more
Posted on 04 May 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
