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 ( 7792 )
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The Irises Have Arrived!
Posted on 06 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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A God That’s Useful for Pastoral Purposes is Different from the Theologian’s God
I recently had a long conversation with Claude that started with the anthropic principle and worked its way through Copernicus to cosmology in general to the... Read more
Posted on 06 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Korea Sells “one-a-day” Banana Packs
Did you know Korea sells “one-a-day” banana packs?Instead of every banana ripening at once, each one is at a different stage.One is ready today.The next one is... Read more
Posted on 06 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Contrasting Reflections
Posted on 05 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Pretty Woman [Media Notes 179]
I’ve seen Pretty Woman (1990) at least three times, once when it came out, once before on streaming, and just last night. I like it. It’s a nice romantic... Read more
Posted on 05 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Beyond Wittgenstein’s Ladder: Diverse Thoughts on Religion
New working paper. Title above, link, abstract, contents, and introduction below.Academia.edu:... Read more
Posted on 04 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The City and the River
Posted on 04 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Our (grim) Yuppy Legacy [the Triumph of Homo Economicus]
Dylan Gottlieb, How Yuppies Changed America, NYTimes, May 4, 2026. So much of what we take for granted today — from our meritocratic rat race to our gentrified... Read more
Posted on 04 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The White House Endorses Research on Psychedelics
Andrew Jacobs, A Long, Strange Trip: How the G.O.P. Came to Embrace Psychedelic Drugs, NYTimes, May 3, 2026. Mindbending may be just the word to describe the... Read more
Posted on 04 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Perhaps AI Won’t Suck up All the Jobs
Ezra Klein, Why the A.I. Job Apocalypse (Probably) Won’t Happen, NYTimes, May 3, 2023. Economists, I’ve found, are quite skeptical that mass joblessness is on... Read more
Posted on 03 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Three Hoboken Views
Posted on 03 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Presiding Over a Declining America, Trump Hastens the Descent
Two from today's (May 3, 2026) New York Times. First, China is on the rise and ready to move beyond America. Then we have the decline of the American empire. Read more
Posted on 03 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Eleventh Street Flower Beds, Hoboken
Posted on 02 May 2026
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Social Learning for Food Among Cockatoos
Kate Golembiewski, What’s Safe to Eat? Birds of a Feather Learn Together, NYTimes, May 2, 2026. By watching their peers, dolphins learn to capture fish in... Read more
Posted on 02 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Elon's Lawyers Are Not Allowed to Invoke AI Doom in His Lawsuit Against OpenAI
Yesterday, a federal judge barred Elon Musk's lawyers from arguing that AI could threaten humanity in his lawsuit against OpenAI. OpenAI was founded as a... Read more
Posted on 02 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Interesting Action at Academia.edu
Here’s four successive months: January 2026: It’s relatively constant, with a peak at 49 and three troughs at 10. February 2026: There’s a rising trend through... Read more
Posted on 01 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why Do I Like Veronica Mars? [Media Notes 178]
I watched the series when it first aired back in 2004-2005 and liked. It seemed a bit like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, not with the mythology and such, but in... Read more
Posted on 01 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Messages Written in Shells
Mum’s the word. I see you. One if by land, two if by sea. Does not compute. Just talking trash. Read more
Posted on 01 May 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Quick Ramble: Computational Compressibility (order in the Universe), Religion ...
I’m thinking there’s a relationship between computational compressibility (as an index of order in the universe) and my current interest in religion, which is... Read more
Posted on 30 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Coming AI-driven Workplace Apocalypse [We Aren't Ready]
Jasmine Sun, The A.I. Fear Keeping Silicon Valley Up at Night, NYTimes, April 30, 2026. Sampled from the article: The opening paragraph: Most people I know in... Read more
Posted on 30 April 2026 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
