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 ( 7622 )
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What's So Special About Us? Why Do We Insist on Specialness?
Scott Aaronson has just posted "The Problem of Human Specialness in the Age of AI." For the past year and a half, I’ve been moonlighting at OpenAI, thinking... Read more
Posted on 13 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Color Photographs from Over a Century Ago by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky
This photo is 113 years old.It was taken by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, an early pioneer of colour photography.If you've ever wondered what the world used to look... Read more
Posted on 12 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
More Hoboken Peekaboo
Posted on 12 February 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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What Happened to Cognitive Science?
Núñez, R., Allen, M., Gao, R. et al. What happened to cognitive science?. Nat Hum Behav 3, 782–791 (2019). https://doi.org/10. Read more
Posted on 12 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Deeper and Deeper [seeds of Recursion]
Posted on 12 February 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Play-by-play Commentary as a Cognitive and Linguistic Act
I’m not much interested in football, or in sports generally. When I was in secondary school, I spent five years in marching band and, as a consequence, went to... Read more
Posted on 12 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Is Altman's Attempt to Raise $7T in Fact a Sign That Things Aren't Going to Well?
Three Hypotheses to Explain $7THypothesis 1: GPT-5 is going to disappoint (see link below)Hypothesis 2: Altman knows thisHypothesis 3: So he is trying to raise... Read more
Posted on 11 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Selfies and Beyond...∞
This isn’t by first excursion into selfie territory. I went back there in September of 2019 and continued into the early pandemic days in the summer of 2020,... Read more
Posted on 11 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Character in the Age of Adam Smith [GOAT Economists]
“Character in the Age of Adam Smith,” that’s the title of a 2017 dissertation that Shannon Francis Chamberlain submitted to the Department of English at UC... Read more
Posted on 11 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sam Altman Wants 7 Trillion Dollars
Microsoft: Sam, we are fully in support of OpenAI’s mission and we are ready to provide any resources needed to advance your vision:Sam Altman: I need $7T... Read more
Posted on 10 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Virtual Reality
Posted on 10 February 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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After 1990 AI Stopped Citing Work in Psychology [empirical Evidence]
I’ve frequently noted that, while researchers in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) often have a lot to say about when their machines will... Read more
Posted on 10 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Torna's Pizza in Hoboken, New Jersey
Posted on 10 February 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Atelier [Media Notes 110]
I watched Atelier several years ago. It’s an excellent miniseries from Japan. I made some notes with the intention of working up a longer piece. Read more
Posted on 10 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
RIP Seiji Ozawa
James R. Oestreich, Seiji Ozawa, Captivating Conductor, Is Dead at 88, NYTimes, 2.9.2024. Mr. Ozawa was the most prominent harbinger of a movement that has... Read more
Posted on 09 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Coopting Disruption
Lemley, Mark A. and Wansley, Matthew, Coopting Disruption (February 1, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4713845 Abstract: Our economy is... Read more
Posted on 09 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Foto: Things of This World [Cosmos]
Posted on 09 February 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Liberals Are More in Touch with Reality Than Conservatives
Which side believes in more misinformation? I used to think that the question was unanswerable because it depends on the questions you ask. Read more
Posted on 09 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Two Very Different Boats (same River)
Posted on 08 February 2024
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Rodney Brooks' Most Recent Views on LLMs [ho Hum, Steady as She Goes]
Rodney Brooks has published his most recent set of tech predictions: Predictions Scorecard, 2024 January 01. He's got predictions and commentary for Self-Drivin... Read more
Posted on 08 February 2024 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
