General Principles
Mojitos, not Recoveries are made my Muddling -Image by Theogeo
There is substantive disagreement about how to best stimulate the economy, but it shouldn't obscure the fact that we should be doing something to stimulate the economy. Policy debates are fun, but at some point they end and you do something. So how come we aren't doing anyone's idea of stimulus?
Of all the work I've done for The Inductive, it seems the most popular has been my review of The Cove. As The Inductive pretends to be a conversational, critical, non-partisan online magazine, we would like to allow commentors to say whatever they desire in hopes that it will advance our public conversation. Basically, this means we will never erase any comments (unless they're spam). We do ask, however, that commenters remain civil, and try not to bring up debates that have been "resolved"; that is, we kindly request that commenters read everything we have on a particular topic before commenting.
In the case of my review of the Academy Award winning documentary The Cove, however, I have to take responsibility for poor site layout as the direct cause of a general incoherence on the part of commenters leading to Joe and I repeatedly explaining the same point. Since The Cove as a topic encompass Japan (Dispatches from the Wild Wild East), culture (the generally neglected Art of Leisure), and public policy (Specific Facts), posts on The Cove have appeared in three out of four sections of our online magazine, roughly based on whatever focus each specific post seemed to have at the time. So here, to clarify everything, I'd like to present a discussion map of sorts:
Dispatches from the Wild Wild East
On the General Shittyness of Textbooks
A language textbook is at best an approximation; at worst a distraction.
In The Black Swan, Nicholas Nassim Taleb describes two types of knowledge (admitedly an overgeneralization): nerd knowledge, and non-nerd knowledge. The former is the kind of knowledge that comes from mastering the rules comprising artificial, human-created systems. Some examples of nerd knowledge would be Keynesian economics, computer programming, chess, and most of what we learn in high school. Non-nerd knowledge on the other hand is the kind of knowledge that comes from intuitively grasping parts of reality. My corresponding examples are Austrian economics, biology, business, and most of what we learn in college. The key difference is that it's possible to master nerd fields, while non-nerd fields remain elusive and amorphous. For this reason, the non-nerd is often unsure of himself, depressed, without rewards, and in need of a nerd hobby, like car-maintenance or Halo 3.
Classic Rap Review: Lil Wayne - Tha Carter 3
The best rapper in the world went to prison for a year. In his honor we're reviewing the last truly titantic rap album. Good luck Weezy.
The battle for the soul of rap was never really in doubt, but it finished emphatically on the day Lil Wayne released Tha Carter III. It exemplifies the characteristics that make Southern rap great: swag tempered by good-humor, beats built with bass and snare as the spine, but soulful hooks as the muscle, and an exuberance that leads to ecstatic moments, unapologetic for the infrequent missteps.
Featured Find
New Yorker illustration by Steve BrodnerThe Empty Chamber
George Packer's New Yorker examination of how the Senate doesn't get things done is the culmination of years of mostly unheard outrage at a poorly designed institution that exists only to prevent legislation from occurring. As currently designed, tiny minorities of the country choke solutions in their cradle while the country and its elected supermajority shrug helplessly. Packer's Senate is a portrait in dysfunction, anachronism and immorality, because no matter what you believe we could do better than this. The scariest part is how the senior members encourage the continuation of historically counterproductive practices as though many of the most powerful people in America are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, in love with the apparently broken Senate status quo. Every American should read how our Politicians behave in the face of a national emergency.
Welcome to The Inductive. Please enjoy our blog, Specific Facts, full length articles in the General Principles section, our focus on Japan in Dispatches from the Wild Wild East, our culture section, The Art of Leisure, where we have reviews of both topical and classic films and albums, and our Featured Find section, where we link to the best the web has to offer.
