Archive for October 8th, 2009

Robert Wright’s Nonzero is not a poker book. I picked it up because it claimed to apply game theory to human evolution, both biological and cultural, and to offer a sweeping and prophetic account of humanity’s history and future. Yes, that’s a pretty ambitious goal, and the author acknowledges as much. Wright does indeed provide a fascinating, fast-paced survey of the history of human civilization that, despite occupying only one-third of a not particularly long book, rarely feels rushed. His predictions for the future are spotty, which can be forgiven, but he could at least provide more guidance about what the world’s leaders ought to do to continue to pursue mutually advantageous relationships. As nothing more than an educated layperson, I found Nonzero to be a quite compelling introduction to the continuing evolution of human civilization, with at least a glimpse into what the future might hold as well.

I also found most of the content to be not nearly as controversial as the author seemed to expect it would be. This, I think, is due to the fact that I was not previously familiar with the academic literature that Wright engages. The central thesis of Nonzero is that, at both the cellular level and the cultural level, the possiblity of realizing nonzerosum gains rewards cooperation and complexity and punishes those who go it alone. Though I found it unremarkable to suggest that life on earth is evolving towards ever-greater complexity and that this evolution is not solely motivated by changes in the external environment, Wright exerts a good deal of effort refuting some prominent academics who argue otherwise. In his defense, he does provide a very accessible introduction to these long-standing debates.  Read the complete post...