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Monday
Jan102011

About the Inductive

The Inductive was formed in the summer of 2009 to further the countercyclical examination of issues in the Aristotelean inductive tradition.  As much as possible we seek to find areas where honest minded people can agree or disagree amicably.  Respect for the fair disagreements that arise from a difference in values, rather than an assumption of malicious intent, is the cornerstone of civil society.  That all political expression falls along an X-Y axis from Liberal to Conservative seems absurd.  Heterodox thinking - like a perspective rooted in fiscal conservativism that also values individual rights, or a belief in a minimum welfare state that nevertheless appreciates the centrality of the family in society - allows judgement of issues individually rather than through the lens of dogmatic orthodoxy.  Through the examination of the specific from a variety of perspectives and common approach, broader principles emerge as the system becomes sufficiently complex.  Is is our hope to be as surprised as anyone by what results.

 

Past Posts about The Inductive:

The Inductive: Volume II

Monday
Jan102011

Website Structure

The Inductive is a general interest site focused primarily on economics, domestic and foreign policy, politics, culture, technology, and media analysis and criticism.  Everything on the entire site goes up on the front page in chronological order.  Nevertheless, we currently run four group blogs:

Permanent Blogs:

Specific Facts: consisting of specific policy recommendations or reactions to news stories in the Western Analytic tradition

General Principles: consisting of general musings or broad criticism in the Western Continental tradition

 

Temporary Blogs:

Dispatches from the Wild Wild East: focused on Japan, travel, the expatriate experience, pedagogy and language

Empires of the Mind:

"The empires of the future will be empires of the mind." - Winston Churchill

"It's true that the internet has reactivated the grass-roots of an egalitarian public sphere of writers and readers.  It also counter­balances the deficits from the impersonal and asymmetrical character of broadcasting insofar as it reintroduces deliberative elements in communication. Besides that, it can undermine the censorship of authoritarian regimes.  But the rise of millions of fragmented discussions across the world tend instead to lead to fragmentation of audiences into isolated publics." - Jurgen Habermas's fake Twitter  

loosely concerned with how technologies affect human societies

Monday
Jan102011

Editorial Staff

Founder and Editor Emeritus:

Joseph Cox is a graduate of Duke University who has been described variously as an “internet addict,” a “nerd” and a “smooth player, who is only understood by his momma.”  While his politics are slightly left of center, he values heterodoxy and always attempts to deconstruct why he believes things through metacognition and a broad reading list.  His firm conviction is that conventional wisdom is frequently wrong, and many revolutionary ideas of today are the pragmatic solutions of the future.

He founded The Inductive hoping that by getting the interesting people he knows (even if he doesn't always agree with them) to write here he can push the limits of what is usually connected with public policy and kill some sacred cows.  Because if you’ve never had sacred cow, its divine with béarnaise.

 

Editor-in-Chief:

Christopher Carr lives in Fukushima, Japan and feels his expatriate lifestyle provides him with unique insights into American society and politics.  He works to varying degrees as an English teacher, technical writer, translator, web designer, journalist, photographer, copy writer, anthropologist, professional gambler, private investor, armchair philosopher, and drugstore scientist; and he is totally undistinguished in all of these fields. 

Chris sees occupational well-roundedness and intentional diverse juxtapositioning of interests as increasingly valuable in an age of hyperspecialization in which the singularity or some new and unpredictable emergent order may or may not be near.  After his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of The Inductive, Chris plans on pursuing a Doctorate of Medicine.

Chris has avid interests in mountainclimbing, skiing, spending time with his stepson and two daughters, Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, exploring the internet, reading, and listening to MIT Open Course Ware.  Chris is firmly committed to a soft form of individual responsibility, individual rights, and equality of opportunity; he distrusts all forms of political-ideological or intellectual labeling and collectivism.  His goal in life has always been to travel to outer space.

Chris's work has been published in the Undergraduate Quarterly, the Duke Journal of Economics, 30 Words, The League of Ordinary Gentlemen, Front Porch Republic, Travel. Write. Drink Plenty of Fluids, and Expat Arrivals.

 

Managing Editor:

Kevin Kato began writing at the ripe age of seven, penning a sappy poem while staring out his bedroom window at the rain. Since then he has dipped his quill into a variety of literary pursuits including short stories, novels, memoirs, travel essays, and more sappy poetry. With a particular fondness for artistic creativity in writing, Kevin aims to present his views on travel and expat life in unique and memorable ways. Accordingly, he has a strong aversion to conventional wisdom and cliché (as well as most pop music).

Once hell-bent on becoming a criminal profiler for the FBI, Kevin’s ambitions now lie in finding a place he and his family can confidently call home while they continue to travel the globe. Financial independence through writing wouldn’t be too bad either; to this end Kevin established his own publishing company in 2010 and is presently working on his third book-length project.

 

Managing Editor:

Josh Weinstein graduated from Duke University in 2006 with a degree in biology, and spent three years at a strategy consulting firm in Boston called Investor Group Services. At the end of 2009, he joined the Fellows program with an organization called Kiva and was sent to work in the Philippines with Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, a Grameen-affiliated organization with a commitment to reducing poverty and expanding credit to all people. Grameen Bank and its affiliates believe access to credit is a fundamental human right, and Negros Women follows this creed.

After a year in Southeast Asia, he moved to West Africa to work for an organization called Technoserve. He worked as a consultant to the private sector agriculture industry as part of the ADVANCE project (Agriculture Development and Value Chain Enhancement) in Ghana, whose mission is to transform the agriculture sector through increased competitiveness. There, he focused primarily on market and supply chain analysis, business plan consulting, and improving access to financing for small farmers throughout Ghana.

Currently, Josh resides in Nairobi working as a consultant to Bridge International Academies, a chain of low-fee private schools serving the urban poor.

Monday
Jan102011

Past and Present Contributors

Monday
Jan102011

For Prospective Writers, Artists, and Photographers

The Inductive is always looking for talented writers, artists, and photographers in any discipline and from any background to contribute.  Specifically, we seek those knowledgeable in areas of economics and policy analysis; (political) philosophy; Japan and the expatriate experience; and technology and society.  Please send query with clips and a brief pitch to Christopher Carr at christopher dot carr1984 at gmail dot com.