Open Societies Work

An important book to remind us it's better if we re-learn how to talk with each other

If you are tired of tribal chest thumping and blaming our problems on others you will like to read this marvelous book by Johan Norbert, who reminds us of the benefits of living together and talking with each other in an open society. And it will help us remember the role that trade and immigration have played in our histories.

I have included an image, below, of my notes from reading the book on bits I will want to refer to later. Hope they are useful.

Here is a quote from Karl Popper written in 1945 at the close of WWII to get you started:

“Civilization has not yet fully recovered from the shock of its birth—the transition from the closed society or “enclosed society”, with its submission to magical forces, to the “open society” which sets free the critical powers of man. The shock of this transition is one of the factors that have made possible the rise of those reactionary movements which have tried, and still try, to overthrow civilization and return to tribalism.”

Dr. John