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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Rosetta [kidz These Days]
SANT ANDREU DIXIE BAND Marti Costalago trompeta Luc Martin trombon Pere Company clarinete Sander Theuns, saxo alto Pau Garcia piano Asier Vazquez, guitarra Mate... Read more
Posted on 22 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude 3.7 Describes a Line Drawing of a Peacock Colored in a Realistic Way
This is another Art Club image. It’s a fairly elaborate one, a peacock. For some reason I decided to color it in a realistic way, or at any rate, in my best... Read more
Posted on 22 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Trapping the Sun
Posted on 22 April 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Strange Time for Purely Digital Beings
Back in December (2024) I did a post entitled: Claude 3.5 Sonnet speculates about future developments in AI and beyond. This post continues that conversation,... Read more
Posted on 21 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Three Views of Hoboken
Posted on 21 April 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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My New-found Patriotism @3QD
Here’s my latest 3QD article: Why I am a Patriot: Vietnam, the Draft, Mennonites, and Project Apollo. The opening paragraphs: Sometime in the past two weeks I... Read more
Posted on 21 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
If the World's a Mess, Don't Blame Donald Trump
Aaron Benanav, There’s a Reason the World Is a Mess, and It’s Not Trump, NYTimes, April 21, 2025. The world is a mess. As President Trump upends global trade... Read more
Posted on 21 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Daniel Pinchbeck's Plot to Save America
Psychonaut Daniel Pinchbeck has an interesting post, "The Plot to Save America," with an interesting lede, "Building a Parallel Society in the Face of... Read more
Posted on 09 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
More Hoboken After Dark
Posted on 09 April 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Rambling into April: 4th Arena, Patriotism, Mystery Box + Stuff
Lot’s going on. Time to sort things out. The Fourth Arena I’m committed to writing a book with the tentative title: Welcome to the Fourth Arena: Homo Ludens... Read more
Posted on 09 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
How Do We Think Together? [Tyler Cowen]
Tyler Cowen has a very interesting post today (April 9, 2025): Why not inquire together more? He sets things up by quoting Robin Hanson. Read more
Posted on 09 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Strange Hoboken Creatures
Posted on 08 April 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Sabrina Hossenfelder Looks at Claude 3.5 Haiku and Discovers That It Lacks...
In this video Hossenfelder examines a paper recently published by Anthropic: On the Biology of a Large Language Model. She has a number of interesting... Read more
Posted on 08 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why the Big Money Boys Let Trump Pull the Wool Over Their Eyes
Michelle Goldberg, Why Did So Many People Delude Themselves About Trump? New York Times, April 7, 2025: Donald Trump’s 2024 election sent many finance types int... Read more
Posted on 08 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Can There Be (sexual) Pleasure and Freedom in Bondage?
A month ago, I mentioned Fifty Shades of Grey in a post about expressions of eroticism. As you may know, the novel centers on an evolving BDSM (bondage,... Read more
Posted on 07 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
From Yesterday's Photo Walk, Including Cherry Blossoms!
Posted on 07 April 2025
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Epilepsy and AI: From Seizure Prediction to Personalized Medicine
Majd A. AbuAlroba, Adham Itbaishab, Boulenouar Mesraouaa, Unlocking new frontiers in epilepsy through AI: From seizure prediction to personalized medicine,... Read more
Posted on 07 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Culture and Point of View: Differences Between Westerners and East Asians
R.E. Nisbett, T. Masuda, Culture and point of view, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 100 (19) 11163-11170,... Read more
Posted on 07 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Claude Identifies Longwood Gardens from Three Photographs
Sometimes when I ask Claude to describe some photo it (what’s Claude’s pronouns?) identified a particular structure or place, as in this view from a New York... Read more
Posted on 06 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Letter to Mary Douglas About God, Religion, and Music
I’m in the process of thinking through my next column for 3 Quarks Daily. I’ve given it a provisional title: “My New-Found Patriotism: Vietnam, the Draft,... Read more
Posted on 06 April 2025 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
