Michael Bowen is a Business Intelligence professional and Data Engineer, a past contributor to NPR, Cafe Utne, Young Republicans and TV One, and an essayist at Stoic Observations. He is a founding member of Free Black Thought. He tweets here.

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Who are you?
I am a Stoic essayist and data engineer. I am married with three adult children. I grew up in SoCal and have worked all over the country.

What do you do?
I am a data architect and engineer. I have worked as a delivery lead within management consulting companies and as an independent contractor and tech entrepreneur. I think of myself as someone who writes for people directly as an essayist and indirectly as a programmer and architect. I architect and build systems that assist people in making decisions. So I leverage the advantages that machines have when they think and the advantages that people have when they think so that in synergy there is a net improvement.

What do you believe?
I am a rationalist who believes in the rule of law. I am a firm believer in the Lockean view of government, so I’m a civil libertarian. I believe in the philosophy of science and the maintenance of open societies. I have faith in Christian ethics and I believe that all racial theories are false. I believe that the fundamental currency of civilization is trust and the purpose of life is to survive through the pain, attain wisdom and conserve cultural edification. I achieve these aims through the disciplines of discovery, humor and reason. I have great faith in human creativity and imagination—even if a generation forgets.