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Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4
EAN: 9780679758945
ISBN: 0679758941
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: January 09, 2001
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: January 09, 2001
Studio: Vintage
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Editorial Review:
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
In his bestselling The Moral Animal, Robert Wright applied the principles of evolutionary biology to the study of the human mind. Now Wright attempts something even more ambitious: explaining the direction of evolution and human history–and discerning where history will lead us next.In Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, Wright asserts that, ever since the primordial ooze, life has followed a basic pattern. Organisms and human societies alike have grown more complex by mastering the challenges of internal cooperation. Wright's narrative ranges from fossilized bacteria to vampire bats, from stone-age villages to the World Trade Organization, uncovering such surprises as the benefits of barbarian hordes and the useful stability of feudalism. Here is history endowed with moral significance–a way of looking at our biological and cultural evolution that suggests, refreshingly, that human morality has improved over time, and that our instinct to discover meaning may itself serve a higher purpose. Insightful, witty, profound, Nonzero offers breathtaking implications for what we believe and how we adapt to technology's ongoing transformation of the world.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A satisfying answer for meaning of life
Whenever I encounter someone who struggles with the question of "Does life have meaning?" I recommend they read Nonzero. Usually they are not-yet-religious, but have become seekers, which worries me because seekers usually end up being ensnared by organized religion with all its supernatural mumbo jumbo unless they can find emotional satisfaction within the world of reason. Wright's Nonzero provides a rational, compelling antedote by explaining the complexity and apparent intentionality of life using ... Read More
Rating: - No need for advanced math here!
Even though Wright posits that sociological and biological evolution can follow models generated in Game Theory, there are no advanced education requirements for this book. This is a great book for adults striving for personal knowledge but would be even a greater read for young adults searching for a passion to study in college and beyond. This book enlightens and enthralls the reader in subjects ranging from Game Theory and Mathematics to Biology, Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy, and more. Anyone ... Read More
Rating: - 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!
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
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