Open Borders
"American policy-makers have long been locked in a heated battle over whether, how many, and what kind of immigrants to allow to live and work in the country. Those in favor of welcoming more immigrants often cite humanitarian reasons, while those in favor of more restrictive laws argue the need to protect native citizens. But economist Bryan Caplan adds a new, compelling perspective to the immigration debate: He argues that opening all borders could eliminate absolute poverty worldwide and usher in a booming worldwide economy--greatly benefiting humanity. With a clear and conversational tone, exhaustive research, and vibrant illustrations by Zach Weinersmith, Open Borders makes the case for unrestricted immigration easy to follow and hard to deny"--Provided by publisher.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
9mentions
9people
2020–2023years
56% recommend44% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- List of books mentioned till now:
"The Man Who Folded Himself" by David Gerrold A fascinating exploration of time travel, despite its poor writing quality, according to the commenter.
"Dreaming: A Very Short Introduction" by J. Allan Hobson A hard science neurophysiological overview of dreaming.
"Material World" by Ed Conway A detailed look into basic minerals like sand, salt, oil, their supply chains, and the process of converting ores to materials.
"Blindsight" and "Echopraxia" by Peter Watts Sci-fi novels that deal with themes of consciousness and first contact with alien intelligence.
"The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again" by M. John Harrison Noted for beautiful writing and vivid descriptions.
"The Thursday Murder Club" by Richard Osman A light and amusing mystery novel; the beginning of a series.
"The Roman Empire in Crisis" by Paul N. Pearson A detailed account of the Crisis of the Third Century in Rome, incorporating recent archaeological discoveries.
"The Good Virus" by Tom Ireland Introduces phages and their pivotal role in advancing human health through phage therapy.
"Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness" by Richard H. Thaler A book about behavioral economics that suggests ways policies can be designed to "nudge" people into making better decisions.
"Blindsight" by Peter Watts A sci-fi novel that offers a less "anthropomorphic" first contact experience.
"Open Borders" by SMBC guy A book that presents an argument in favor of more open immigration policies.
"Snow Crash" and "Neuromancer" Classic cyberpunk novels, recommended for annual re-reading by the commenter.
"The God Engines" by John Scalzi A novella that is described as a sci-fi fantasy religious tale of space travel and manifested gods. Culture Series by Iain M. Banks A series of space opera novels set in a post-scarcity society.
"Art & Fear - Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" by David Bayles & Ted Orland A book about human nature and creativity.
"The Case for God" by Karen Armstrong A book about the history of religion and how much is misunderstood in modern times.
"Years of Lyndon Johnson" by Robert Caro A detailed and well-researched biography of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.
"The Captured Economy" by Lindsey and Teles "American Revolutions" by Alan Taylor "Everything Flows" by Vasili Grossman "Silk Roads" by Peter Frankopan A history of the world from a Central Asian perspective.
"Too Perfect: When Being in Control Gets Out of Control" by Allan Mallinger "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael E. Gerber A book about why most small businesses don't work and what to do about it.
"Prisoners of Geography" by Tim Marshall An exploration of how borders and geography shape nations.
"Impro" by Keith Johnston A book with unique and radical views about how society functions.
"Peter Singer's books" Noted as being worldview-changing, but specific titles aren't listed.
"Two Years Before The Mast" by Richard Henry Dana An account of the cattle hide trade along the California coast in the 1830s.
"Empire of the Summer Moon" A book about the Comanche tribe and their conflict with settlers in the American West.
"Dune" by Frank Herbert A classic science fiction novel about politics, religion, and ecology on a desert planet.
"God, Human, Animal Machine" by Meghan O’Gieblyn Traces parallels between Christian theology and transhumanism.
"The Water Knife" A dystopian future novel set against a backdrop of water scarcity in the western United States.
- > But then it doesn't seem to address any of them!
No, but the book he references does address them, with unusual clarity:
https://www.amazon.com/Open-Borders-Science-Ethics-Immigrati...
At the bottom of the post the writer thanks one of the authors of that book for reviewing a draft.
- After reading Open Borders by Bryan Cahlan, I’m convinced that if there is a burden on the host country it’s temporary. Long term, I think the host country has much more to gain than to lose.
- If you haven't seen it, you might like Open Borders by Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith[1]. Comic-book form advocating for open borders, with pretty good reasoning.
[1] https://smile.amazon.com/Open-Borders-Science-Ethics-Immigra...
- Zach Weinersmith's ability to tell compelling non-fiction via comics is something I truly love. He manages to take what the person is saying, convert it into a comic form of them saying it, while adding humour. And throughout the process, what is being said does not seem to be degraded at all. There's also a level of openness we all seem to have to something that comes at us as a comic rather than hard text.
I don't even think we have a good word for what this practice is, but I'll go with "Art" because it takes a lot of that.
His book on Immigration[0] is a large-scale version of this skill in practice and I suspect a lot of HN readers might enjoy it, regardless of if you agree with his points or not.
[0]https://www.amazon.com/Open-Borders-Science-Ethics-Immigrati...
- "Other states are unreasonable about immigration too" partially explains this problem but doesn't justify it. (I'm not saying some kind of filter is necessarily bad. But a kafkaesque one is. And this isn't a small problem -- it's made us collectively a lot poorer. (Bryan Caplan, Open Borders, for that argument.))
