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 ( 7626 )
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New Account of AI Doom @3QD: A New Counter Culture Arises
I’ve been plugging away on this AI Doom business since forever it seems. I’ve certainly run up a bunch of posts on the subject. But I’ve finally arrived at... Read more
Posted on 11 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Lost in Translation [Media Notes 97]
James Hadfield, 'Lost in Translation' at 20: A Tokyo perspective, Japan Times, September 9, 2023. The opening paragraphs: In the autumn of 2003, Japan was havin... Read more
Posted on 10 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Information Sharing and Human Brilliance
Howard Rheingold posted a link to this article in the Brainstorms online community (gated): Joseph Henrich, Michael Muthukrishna, What Makes Us Smart? Topics... Read more
Posted on 10 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Egg and the Monolith
Posted on 09 September 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Friday Fotos: Pot-pourri
Posted on 08 September 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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ChatGPT on Intelligence, IQ, and the Culture of Intellect
I'm continuing to work on and think about an ideology of intellect and intelligence. To that end I questioned ChatGPT on a number of subjects having to do with... Read more
Posted on 08 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Variations on a Sunrise
Posted on 07 September 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Toward an Ideology of Intellect: Adrian Monk and Jerry Espenson [Media Notes 96]
Adrian Monk is the central character in the eponymous TV series, Monk, a comedy-drama mysteries series that ran from 2002 to 2009. Read more
Posted on 07 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Geese Flying Over the Hudson ["call Me Swifty']
Posted on 07 September 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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On the Fictional Depiction of Very Intelligent People [ChatGPT]
I've been working on an article on what I'm calling the ideology of intelligence. While the term "ideology" is generally used in the context of political or... Read more
Posted on 07 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
French Toast, Sausage, Sunglasses, and "Be Kind" Cup
Posted on 06 September 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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LLMs, Transformers, the Chatster, and Human Intelligence
I'm having fun listening to this conversation between Bob Wright and Timothy Lee: I'm finding the stuff on how transformers work particularly useful. Read more
Posted on 06 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Three Kinds of Fun in Columbus Park on Labor Day [Hoboken]
Posted on 05 September 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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ChatGPT on the Achievements of Bach and Walt Disney
Tyler Cowen recently posted: Is Bach the greatest achiever of all time? In reply I noted, "While I am generally skeptical of this "greatest of all time"... Read more
Posted on 05 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Hoboken Street Views on Labor Day
Posted on 05 September 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Gone Fishin’ for Labor Day
I’ve decided to try an experiment: (almost) no posting on Labor Day. That is to say, no posts that require thinking, which this one doesn’t. Nor does posting a... Read more
Posted on 04 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
What Must Be the Case That ChatGPT Would Have Memorized “To Be Or Not to Be”? –...
I’ve been thinking about ChatGPT again, about what goes on under the hood. What would happen I prompted it with a famous phrase from Shakespeare? Would it retur... Read more
Posted on 03 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Breakfast at Turning Point [see My Reflection in the Bottom Photo]
Posted on 03 September 2023
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Eight Trumpeters Chasing Satchmo in the 30s [w/ a Tenor Sax Bonus]
Ted Gioia has a post on a subject near and dear to me, jazz trumpet players: Could Any Other Jazz Trumpeter Match Up with Louis Armstrong in the 1930s? Read more
Posted on 03 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Whoops! There Goes the Universe! It's Not Behaving Like It Should.
Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser, The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel, NYTimes, Sept. 2, 2023 Selected passages: But one of the Webb’s first majo... Read more
Posted on 02 September 2023 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
