Another sad example of a problem that would be difficult but not impossible to solve rationally in theory, but in real life the outcome will be very far from optimal for many reasons (human stupidity, mindkilling, conflicts of interest, problems with coordination, etc.).
There are many people trying to escape from a horrible situation, and I would really want to help them. There are also many people pretending to be in the same situation in order to benefit from any help offered to the former; that increases the costs of the help. A part of what created the horrible situation is in the human heads, so by accepting the refugees we could import a part of what they are trying to escape from.
As usual, the most vocal people go to two extremes: “we should not give a fuck and just let them die”, or trying to censor the debate about all the possible risks (including the things that already happened). Which makes it really difficult to publicly debate solutions that would both help the refugees and try to reduce the risk.
Longer-term consequences: If we let the refugees in, it will motivate even more people to come. If we don’t let the refugees in, we are giving them the choice to either join the bad guys or die (so we shouldn’t be surprised if many of them choose to join the bad guys).
Supporting Assad, as a lesser evil than ISIS is probably the best realistic option, but kinda disappointing. (Also anything that gives more power to Russia creates more problems in long term.) Doesn’t solve the underlying problem, that the states in the area are each a random mix of religions and ethnicities, ready to kill each other. A long-term solution would be rewriting the map, to split the groups who want to cut each other’s throats into different states. No chance to make Turkey agree on having Kurdistan as a neighbor. Etc.
If I were a king of Europe, my solution would be more or less to let the refugees in, but to have them live under Orwellian conditions, which would expire in 5 or 10 years after their coming assuming they commited no crimes (a trivial crime would merely extend the period, a nontrivial crime would lead to deportation, with biometric data taken so the person doesn’t get a second chance). For example, there would be a limit of one refugee family per street, so they cannot create ghettos. Mandatory lessons on how to fit in the culture. Islam heavily controlled, only the most nonviolent branches allowed.
Another sad example of a problem that would be difficult but not impossible to solve rationally in theory, but in real life the outcome will be very far from optimal for many reasons (human stupidity, mindkilling, conflicts of interest, problems with coordination, etc.).
There are many people trying to escape from a horrible situation, and I would really want to help them. There are also many people pretending to be in the same situation in order to benefit from any help offered to the former; that increases the costs of the help. A part of what created the horrible situation is in the human heads, so by accepting the refugees we could import a part of what they are trying to escape from.
As usual, the most vocal people go to two extremes: “we should not give a fuck and just let them die”, or trying to censor the debate about all the possible risks (including the things that already happened). Which makes it really difficult to publicly debate solutions that would both help the refugees and try to reduce the risk.
Longer-term consequences: If we let the refugees in, it will motivate even more people to come. If we don’t let the refugees in, we are giving them the choice to either join the bad guys or die (so we shouldn’t be surprised if many of them choose to join the bad guys).
Supporting Assad, as a lesser evil than ISIS is probably the best realistic option, but kinda disappointing. (Also anything that gives more power to Russia creates more problems in long term.) Doesn’t solve the underlying problem, that the states in the area are each a random mix of religions and ethnicities, ready to kill each other. A long-term solution would be rewriting the map, to split the groups who want to cut each other’s throats into different states. No chance to make Turkey agree on having Kurdistan as a neighbor. Etc.
If I were a king of Europe, my solution would be more or less to let the refugees in, but to have them live under Orwellian conditions, which would expire in 5 or 10 years after their coming assuming they commited no crimes (a trivial crime would merely extend the period, a nontrivial crime would lead to deportation, with biometric data taken so the person doesn’t get a second chance). For example, there would be a limit of one refugee family per street, so they cannot create ghettos. Mandatory lessons on how to fit in the culture. Islam heavily controlled, only the most nonviolent branches allowed.