Nonzero, from New Republic writer Robert Wright, is a difficult and important book–well worth reading–addressing the controversial question of purpose in evolution. Using language suggesting that natural selection is a designer’s tool, Wright inevitably draws the conclusion that evolution is goal-oriented (or at least moves toward inevitable ends independently of environmental or contingent variables).
The underlying reason that non-zero-sum games wind up being played well is the same in biological evolution as in cultural evolution. Whether you are a bunch of genes or a bunch of memes, if you’re all in the same boat you’ll tend to perish unless you are conducive to productive coordination…. Genetic evolution thus tends to create smoothly integrated organisms, and cultural evolution tends to create smoothly integrated groups of organisms.
Admittedly, it’s as hard to think clearly about natural selection as it is to think about God, but that makes it just as important to acknowledge our biases and try to exclude them from our conclusions. It is this that makes Nonzero potentially unsatisfying to the scientifically literate. Time after time we’ve seen thinkers try to find in biological evolution a “drive toward complexity” that might explain all sorts of other phenomena from economics to spirituality. Some authors, like Teilhard de Chardin, have much to offer the careful reader who takes pains to read metaphorically. Others–legions of cranks–provide nothing but opaque diatribes culminating in often-bizarre assertions proven to nobody but the author. Wright is much closer to de Chardin along this axis; his anthropological scholarship is particularly noteworthy, and his grasp of world history is excellent. Unfortunately, he has the advocate’s willingness to blind himself to disagreeable facts and to muddle over concepts whose clarity would be poisonous to his positions: try to pin him down on what he means by complexity, for example. Still, his thesis that human cultures are historically striving for cooperative, nonzero-sum situations is heartening and compelling; even though it’s not supported by biology, it’s not knocked down, either. If the reader can work around the undefined assumptions, Wright’s charm and obvious interest in planetary survival make Nonzero a worthy read. If the first chapter’s title–”The Ladder of Cultural Evolution”–makes you cringe, the last one–”You Call This a God?”–will make you smile. –Rob Lightner
Customer Reviews
Nice job!:
The book could have been better organized, the tone was somewhat grating, and some of the ideas fell flat, but I still rate this 5/5 stars, because in one book the author makes a convincing case that cultural evolution is inexorable and that with enough time it is inevitible that evolution would produce a species capable of culture. Way to go!
Antidote Against Fear:
This book deserves more exposure to create momentum towards more positive interaction among different religions, societies, cultures and nation states.
It’s a good antidote against the fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) used to isolate, stigmatise and demonise.
Robert Wright is also contradiction in terms, since his demeanor is quite negative while he talks of positive change being manifest in history. In his own words, “grim inspiration” is what he offers…you can download the video of his TED talk.
He’s also probably one of the few proponents for evolution who actually dare to make some argument for the existence of a higher being.
Most evolutionists are just as fundamentalist in their denial of a higher being (in the context of a “beginning” and the free will of intelligent beings), as many Christians are horrified at discussing evolution (in the context of biology). Both sides seem to have a compelling need to believe, their reasons or their faith, to the total exclusion of the other.
It will benefit society as a whole if you read this book:
This is an excellent book. Basically the premise is that natural selection tends to favor non-zero sum activity on both a biological and cultural level. Wright is not only a visionary thinker but also a great writer and teacher. This stuff could be very hard to grasp, but he does a great job of making the subject easily accessible to anyone with a decent understanding of natural selection.
Specialists and scientists can assuredly point to specific examples that contradict Wright’s theory, but as a whole it seems like a pretty solid theory with alot of supporting evidence throughout history. Things are never black and white, so nonzero-sumness may not be the end-all-be-all explanation for the arrow of history, but it sure seems like a pretty large piece of the puzzle. The great thing about it, like natural selection, is that it just makes a whole lot of sense. Understanding the inter-related nature of the world might be the real key to our progress/survival as a species, and Nonzero is as good a place as any to start.
On a side note: to truly maximize the enjoyment of this book, go to Wright’s website Bloggingheads.tv and watch one of his dialogues. He has a very dry personality that can be incredibly witty at times. I could hear his voice while reading this book and it made his quirky little jokes infinitely more amusing.
PS it’s nice to know that some Presidents actually used to take an interest in books like this.
What about the environment?:
Mr. Wright knows how to write, of course. His witty and off-handy way of explaining things and of finding connections hidden to most other mortal beings is almost unparalleled (if that were the only aspect to rate, it would be a 5). However, I found most disturbing the fact that he seems to dismiss or not address (on purpose?) the effect his (quite well argued) linear o destined history has had on the environment. He tells a lot of stories on how humankind has evolved from hunter/gatherers towards capitalism and not once (or perhaps only once) says he something about the dire consequences this has had oh-so-many-times on natural resources, biodiversity, cultural diversity, etc. Perhaps we are doomed (blessed?) to become all capitalists, but we should not succumb to a Greek-tragedy type of historicism. Mr. Wright: how much are we able, according to your hypotheses, to control our fate? If we are going to be capitalists, let us hope we will be able to develop at least a type of capitalism, that, contrary to your book, will have in mind that this is the only planet we have (sorry for the cliché, but its true!) and that the trend we are following will destroy it utterly sooner than later, no matter what.
4.5 Stars…The future’s so bright, I gotta wear sh……:
While not quite a masterpiece like Moral Animal (1994)- ultimately, the writing is too diffuse and meandering- NZ is the more ambitious work. Wright takes a macroscopic view of human society, describing quite convicingly how the “arrow” of civilization is leading to greater complexity and networking- to a “global village” perhaps as the media pundits predict. The debateable thing is Wright discusses the long-term benefits of disaster, human conflicts, and war in particular. Certainly, war ultimately brings different groups together and leads to technical progress: in that sense, WWII was a “great” thing- it led to the near unification of Europe into 2 sides (divided by the Iron Curtain) after centuries of discord. Even the Holocaust was “positive” since it led to the decline of anti-Semitism and racism. (People today forget how socially acceptable it used to be.)
Collectively, it seems we’re getting better in every possible way 
And yet, on an individual level- from the timespan of a human lifetime- why should any of us care about that?
