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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Ai Gives Mathematicians the Freedom to Try Crazy Ideas
In conversation with OpenAI’s @markchen90, Terence reflects on a future where AI reduces the cognitive friction of research, helps preserve the paths behind... Read more
Posted on 30 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Branding: From Economics to Culture [& Econometrics to Digital Humanities]
I’ve been thinking about the economics issues that Tyler Cowen raises early in the last chapter of his marginalism monograph, “Why Marginalism Will Dwindle,... Read more
Posted on 30 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
On the Waterfront
Posted on 30 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The Origins of LLMs – A Long Tectonic Subduction Event Finally Producing a...
A new working paper. Title above, link, abstract, contents, and introduction below. Academic.edu: Read more
Posted on 29 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why Most AI Healthcare Applications Are Misconceived
From the text: Yet decades of transactional, episodic, payment-driven infrastructure undermined the patient–physician relationship at the center of health.... Read more
Posted on 29 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Adam Neely Points out the Folly of Misusing AI to Create Music
Neeley (16:33): “I hate small-minded people with money who use technology as a cudgel to enforce their terrible taste on the rest of us. Read more
Posted on 29 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Popeye's at Newport Mall
Posted on 29 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Idolatry and A.I. [Magnifica Humanitas]
Yuval Levin, Idols of the Valley, The New Atlantis, May 27, 2026. Levin is commenting on Pope Leo XIV's recent encyclical, Magnifica humanitas. Read more
Posted on 29 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Negative ROI on AI
The AI numbers are starting to look very ugly.Even under "best case" assumptions, FT's own data shows Microsoft AI ROI at -9%, Google at -15%, Meta at -28%,... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Fountain in Shipyard Park, Plus Geese
Posted on 28 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Alexandria as the Manhattan of the Ancient World, Rome, Writing (Rank 2 Culture)
Tyler Cowen, Toby Wilkinson on Ptolemaic Egypt and the First Great Commercial Civilization (Ep. 278), May 27, 2026. Toby Wilkinson is one of the world’s... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Whoops! The Singularity Has Been Put on Hold
OpenAI and Anthropic are effectively telling the market they can't solve every problem with a generic AI coworker.You don't pour billions into massive... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Living in Troy, New York
I lived in Troy from the fall of 1978 to 1998 or 1999. I moved there to take a job at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and when I failed to make tenur... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Devil Wears Prada 2 [Media Notes 182]
I saw the original The Devil Wears Prada back in 2006, when I came out in theaters, and then again in 2022 on one of the streaming platforms. Read more
Posted on 27 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Three from the Festival
Posted on 27 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Building a Machine God
Cade Metz, At the Epicenter of A.I., Pope Leo’s Warnings Are Dismissed, NYTimes, May 26, 2026. Jeremy Nixon is the 33 cofounder of A.G.I. House in San Francisco... Read more
Posted on 26 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Walking is Good for Creative Thinking
Marily Oppezzo and Daniel L. Schwartz, Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking, Journal of Experimental Psychology:... Read more
Posted on 26 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Eh? So Much for “Magnifica Humanitas.” Lots of Words, the Substance is Weak.
Matthew Walther, The Pope Should Be Going to War Against A.I. Why Isn’t He? NYTimes, May 26, 2026. This is not exactly the Unabomber manifesto. One is even... Read more
Posted on 26 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Going to Jersey City on the Light Rail
Posted on 26 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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R.I.P. Sonny Rollins - September 7, 1930 - May 25, 2026
Jazz Video Guy (Brett Primack): Rollins sits at the intersection of two things that rarely coexist: absolute technical mastery and genuine spontaneous... Read more
Posted on 26 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
