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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Ted Gioia Believes That Progress Stopped in 2015 and That Technocrats Don't...
Ted Gioia has just published an interesting polemic: I Ask Seven Heretical Questions About Progress. I'll leave you to read his seven heretical questions for... Read more
Posted on 23 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Open Language Model from Allen Institute for AI
The Allen Institute for AI is building OLMo (Open Language Model): AI2 is embarking on the creation of an open, state-of-the-art generative language model: AI2... Read more
Posted on 22 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Bach, Bernstein, Moog (& Friends)
Young People's Concert: "Bach Transmogrified" with the New York Philharmonic Written and conducted by Leonard Bernstein Bernstein discusses different... Read more
Posted on 21 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Let's Not Forget Waffles
Posted on 21 January 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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An Aesthetic Issue Raised by the Presence of Louis Armstrong on the Soundtrack o...
At about 44:20 into Maestro we hear Louis Armstrong playing the tango section of “St. Louis Blues” on the soundtrack. What’s that doing in the film? There’s... Read more
Posted on 21 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
On the History and Connotations of "maestro"
Over at Language Log Victor Mair quotes at length from an article written by Holly Mathieson, the Music Director of the Symphony of Nova Scotia. Read more
Posted on 20 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Free at Last
STEAMBOAT WILLIE REMIX pic.twitter.com/BwQPU0A6sD— Eclectic Method ♻️ (@EclecticMethod) January 1, 2024 By Electric Read more
Posted on 20 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
AlphaFold and Drug Discovery
Ellen Callaway, AlphaFold found thousands of possible psychedelics. Will its predictions help drug discovery? Nature, Jan. 18, 2024. Read more
Posted on 20 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Fallen Heroes
Posted on 19 January 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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How Do You Say “NO!” to Big Brother When It Controls Your Computer?
Two years ago I did a series of posts provoked by Facebook. As I explained in the first post in that series, Facebook or freedom, Part 1: Who gave you permissio... Read more
Posted on 19 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Childhood's End
Posted on 18 January 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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AlphaGeometry Uses a Neuro-symbolic Architecture to Solve Olympiad Geometry...
This is the neuro-symbolic architecture of #AlphaGeometry. Similar to System1 and System 2, in the book "Thinking, fast and slow", the symbolic engine will firs... Read more
Posted on 17 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Bleg: The Use of “role” Where (formerly) We Used “job” Or “position”
Over the last five or ten years I’ve noticed that the word “role” is being used where I normally expected to see “job” or “position.” Just when did this... Read more
Posted on 17 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Good Morning. Rise and Shine!
Posted on 17 January 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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The Moral Choice Machine
Schramowski Patrick, Turan Cigdem, Jentzsch Sophie, Rothkopf Constantin, Kersting Kristian, The Moral Choice Machine, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence,... Read more
Posted on 17 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Minnie the Moocher: [Media Notes 108]
I’ve just streamed The Blues Brothers, which I saw during its theatrical release in 1980 and which is loads of fun. As I thought about doing a post about the... Read more
Posted on 16 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Contra Chomsky: LLMs Cannot Learn (at Least Some) Languages That Are Impossible...
You may remember Noam Chomsky’s NYT article on ChatGPT from last year. https://t.co/HyL1U2JXZrHe and others have claimed that LLMs are equally capable of... Read more
Posted on 15 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
There Was Snow in Jersey City on Oct. 31, 2011
Posted on 15 January 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Toward a Theory of Intelligence: Did Miriam Yevick Know Something in 1975 That...
One theme that comes up in various discussions of artificial intelligence is that the discipline is primarily an empirical one that lacks theoretical grounding. Read more
Posted on 15 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Toward Precision Medicine for the Many Varieties of Cancer
From the YouTube page: Why have we not found the cure for cancer yet? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly explore paradigm shifts in... Read more
Posted on 14 January 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
