That all covers just the “being born” part — the one we don’t have control over. Now lets get into what we can actually do about the rest.

When the environment is (or turns) difficult, you have a choice between adapting or moving. There’s a third choice as well, but I’ll get to that later.

Both adaptation and migration are common in nature. Adaptation in fact explains most of the diversity of animal species we see today (It just so happens that I’m posting this from the Galápagos Islands). Be it a furry coat or the ability to hibernate to survive winters, evolution has found means to increase the odds of survival. We humans are great at it too — look at our skin color or our ability to bend over under authoritarian regimes. We do what it takes to survive.

The second choice — migration is found in all major animal groups (birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects and even crustaceans). The Estonian national bird — the barn swallow — only spends a few months a year in Estonia (which in itself is amusing). It’s among the 18% of bird species that migrate long distances, mostly to escape winters.

Humans are no exception when it comes to migration. There are a quarter billion people in the world who now live permanently in a country other than the one they were born in (3.2% of world population), 7.6% of them are qualified as refugees. Looking back at the history of migration, if you’re not in Africa right now, then you’re at least a descendant of people who have moved continents (maybe something for racists to think about?).

The big difference between human and animal migration is that we humans often limit our freedom to imagined communities — socially constructed, artificial groups, imagined by the people who perceive themselves as part of them. That’s essentially what nation states are — imagined — since they are not based on face-to-face interactions between its members like actual communities.

Pangaea (Pangea) — a supercontinent

300 million years ago, a supercontinent called Pangaea was formed, that later broke apart into continents that we inhabit today. Modern technology has turned the world back into Pangaea — a world where everything is connected. You can have a live video call with someone across the world in seconds (you’re welcome!) or you can find yourself on the next continent in 10 hours if the need be. Yet we have built these imaginary borders around us that limit human potential. These borders are a direct result of historic military conflict. And allowing your fate to be determined by things that took place before your birth feels like accepting defeat before you even get started.

“It is the magic of nationalism to turn chance into destiny”

Benedict Anderson

This all brings me to the third option of what to do when the environment is not favorable — you can change it! As weird as it sounds, one of the means to cause change is actually also to migrate (for those who already have that freedom). As opposed to a slow democratic process of giving your marginal vote every four years in the hope of changing something you care about, you can vote with your feet already today. You have a choice between expressing your needs at a popularity contest twice a decade or putting constant pressure on places.

Not only will you find yourself in a place where your problem is already fixed (remember — that’s why you moved!), you’re also putting real budget pressure on the old place by taking your taxes elsewhere (will hurt every month). With enough people doing that, the competition for taxes forces incumbent states to fix their environments.

In positive political theory, this is described as the Tiebout hypothesis. The basic argument is that competition between governments reduces their ability to redistribute wealth, since whoever is being taxed to pay for the redistribution can just move to somewhere with lower taxes. These effects of course are not only limited to taxes.

Though the suggestion to “Just move!” from the pen of the affluent might come off as insensitive toward the 3rd world citizens (who might be lacking the freedom to move), there is however one major thing that injects endless hope in me — the advances in technology.