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 ( 7597 )
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Trump's War is Heading into a Quagmire, and the Republicans Know It
Michelle Goldberg, Republicans Know This War Is Going Badly, NYTimes, Mar. 27, 2026. The article begins: It is not just Democrats in Congress who fear that... Read more
Posted on 27 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Kinda' Hits You in the Eye, Doesn't It?
Posted on 26 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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From Grokking to a Mature Science of and an Engineering Discipline of LLMs
From this morning’s chat with Claude Sonnet 5.4 Extended. Immediately prior to this we had been discussing Piaget’s concept of reflective abstraction,... Read more
Posted on 26 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
LeWorldModel, LeWM (JEPAs)
đ¨ Holy shit... LeCun's team just cracked world models wide open.Everyone's obsessing over the next Claude update. Meanwhile Yann LeCun... Read more
Posted on 25 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Who Makes the Photo, the Subject Or the Photographer?
Of course it’s the photographer. I’m speaking somewhat metaphorically. Take a look at this photo: Rather striking, dramatic, no? That’s a photo where the subjec... Read more
Posted on 25 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Iran War, The Movie: Straight Outta Hormuz
Here's the story: 'Iran War - The Movie': On social media platforms near you, playing now. Watch viral video! Is the Iran war now turning into internet satire? Read more
Posted on 25 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
America’s New Chip Factory — $50B Disaster
This is a fascinating story about how Samsung set out to build a state of the art chip fab (fabrication facility) and the problems that bedeviled it. Without th... Read more
Posted on 25 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Three Tablescapes from the Bar at Turning Point {Be Kind}
Posted on 24 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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In Some Ways, Some Contexts, LLMs May Provide a Useful Model for Human Language
As I say down there in my interaction with Claude (Sonnet 4.6 Extended), once I’d been working with ChatGPT for a while I began to think that the mechanisms of... Read more
Posted on 24 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
First Sunrise Shoot of the Year
Posted on 24 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Trump’s Way: America, from Leader of the Free World to Biggest Thug on the Block
Carlos Lozada, The U.S. Is No Longer the Leader of the Free World, New York Times, March 24, 2026. We had a good run — some eight decades or so — but it is clea... Read more
Posted on 24 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Canadian Geese in Hoboken by the Hudson River
Posted on 23 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The War: The Blockage of Shipping and the Destruction of LPG Processing Could...
Patricia Cohen, War’s Attacks on Energy Could Turn Economic Shock Into Long-Term Damage, NYTimes, Mar. 23, 2026. The game has changed. Read more
Posted on 23 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
An Old Man, His Beret, and His Breakfast
Posted on 22 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Terrence Tao Talks with Dwarkesh Patel About Kepler Discovering His 3 Laws of...
Dwarkesh Patel, Terence Tao – Kepler, Newton, and the true nature of mathematical discovery, March 20, 2026. We begin the episode with the absolutely ingenious... Read more
Posted on 22 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
G.O.A.T. 3 Egg Omelet with Spinach at Turning Point
Posted on 22 March 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Stand by Me and the Demise of Free-range Childhood [like I Had] [Media Notes 176]
Sarah Wildman, The End of the Free-Range, Device-Free ‘Stand By Me’ Childhood, NYTimes, Mar. 22, 2026. Wildman took her 12-year old daughter to see Stand by Me. Read more
Posted on 22 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Milk Bottle from the Ancient Days
I've been getting breakfast for the last two years, maybe three, and only just recently realized that what I thought of as an oddly shaped water caraffe was in... Read more
Posted on 21 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Philosopher-Cat, Contemplating the World
Today: #Lookout We've so enjoyed looking out with you today, through rocks, windows, ancient buildings, trees and doors, to gardens and beaches and amazing skie... Read more
Posted on 21 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tech Bro [Musk] Scamming NASDAQ Over IPO
Nasdaq is proposing to facilitate the largest involuntary wealth transfer from retirement savers to venture capitalists in market history. And nobody seems to b... Read more
Posted on 20 March 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
