I've created this website to help myself and others locate freedom and then settle there with confidence.
In the search for an appropriate home base, I quickly found that it is very hard to get a grasp of the direction countries are trending. I need to be able to quickly see where countries stand - and how they compare - before I consider moving anywhere.
In a sense, we'd like to be able to see a little into the future and know what policies countries will be implementing half a year or a year from now. My goal for Settlemap is to help map out policy trends, so you'll be able to decide on where to settle with conviction.
In this way, we may hold states accountable and create a map of the world based on political preference instead of geography - and perhaps even recreate it.
I've created this website to stop reacting to governmental policies, and to start formulating a response. A response differs from a reaction in that a reaction is an emotional response - it implies reflexivity instead of rationality. A response, on the other hand, is a calculated move.
On this website, I intend to take the emotions out of the decision-making process and reduce it to a logistical problem - which it fundamentally is. Considering where you live as a logistical problem - picking which political course aligns most closely with our own values and intended daily lives - helps to gain clear insight into the options we have, considerations we have to make, and actions we may want to take.
In this way, we may hold states accountable and create a map of the world based on preference instead of geography - and perhaps even recreate it.
Deciding whether or not to stay in your home country is in essence a logistical problem. Many people, myself included, will experience this as an emotional decision at first. True, there are emotional factors that play into the decision - it's hard to start over. Ultimately, it is our emotional response that makes us incapable to decide with clarity and conviction.
The reason it may feel like an emotional decision is because the logistics are very unclear. It is very hard to monitor what countries will do. Pulling the trigger on moving to a foreign country will be hard when you don't know whether their response to COVID-19 will be any better in the long run than the country you're currently in.
As long as we treat this as an emotional decision, our decision-making matrix will look as follows:
| Staying | Leaving | |
|---|---|---|
| Pros | Keeping my house, job, friends and family | Not sure |
| Cons | Being oppressed | Losing my house, job, friends and family |
When you put it like that, it immediately becomes clear that there is no rational basis to decide to leave on.
We much rather have our decision-making matrix look as follows:
| Staying | Leaving | |
|---|---|---|
| Pros | Keeping my house, job, friends and family | Being free |
| Cons | Being oppressed | Losing my house, job, friends and family |
In a sense, we'd like to be able to see a little into the future and know what policies countries will be implementing half a year or a year from now. My goal for Settlemap is to help map out policy trends, so you'll be able to decide on where to settle with conviction.
As you can imagine, monitoring policy trends requires a lot of eyes and ears. You can contribute to this project by sharing on-the-ground information about your own country. If you want to contribute, please check this page.