Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny by Robert Wright Search Amazon for other books by or about Robert Wright. Rating: Reviewed by: David Smillie

What an interesting book. For a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is its controversial conclusion. Robert Wright has written a fascinating, well-reasoned argument about how human society has evolved, and where it might be going.

At its heart is game theory, particularly the concept of a non-zero sum. A zero sum game is one where one player wins and the other one loses. (Conceptually, this is the simplest form of a game, either I win or you do.) But there are other forms of games, where both sides can win. Sometimes one wins more than another, but usually both parties benefit. To Wright, it's by harnessing such non-zero interactions that we've reached our current stage of evolution. There's been a feedback process, an "escalator of intelligence" that only humans have been lucky enough (so far as we know) to ride. As we move upward, the non-zero sum games get bigger and more elaborate, with higher payoffs for everyone involved. The accumulation of these "games" results in us. Not only biologically, but socially and culturally as well.

And this is a critically important point. Wright is only partially interested in our physical evolution. He's just as interested in how our society and behavior came to be. To explain that, he uses meme theory, an innovative school of thought that sees ideas as analogs for the genes on DNA (or perhaps as viruses). Just as genes are propagated from one generation to the next, ideas, knowledge and traditions are passed on from person to person and from generation to generation. Some of those ideas are successful (don't eat the red berries, don't have sex with your siblings, it's easier to use a horse to carry the heavy loads) and are passed on. Others are less successful (let's eat the red berries, let's make our children immortal by feeding them to Moloch the fire god) and tend to die out (often literally). Memes are an incredibly useful tool for the modern historian of ideas, and Wright uses them well.

But his style and conclusions are sure to be controversial. There's a strong sense in biology that any teleological or "directional" arguments about evolution are to be avoided at all cost. In the past there was an unfortunate (if understandable) tendency to view humans as the end point of evolution, God's great creation. So everything that happened during evolution was seen as inexorably leading to us ... the ultimate in teleological explanations. That idea has mercifully been abandoned, and luckily Wright isn't trying to re-establish it. At least not entirely. The problem with any teleological argument is that it can easily be used in a variety of ways, particularly to argue there's some "purpose" to our evolution, or someone behind it all -- which is why I'm sure Wright will be roundly attacked by many scientists for this book.

But (with one exception, and more on it later), I don't think that reaction is entirely justified. Wright paints an extremely effective, persuasive picture. The subject matter can be tricky, but Wright approaches it with a breezy style that's often funny, but always interesting and thoughtful, as in this explanation of how genes and memes might have worked together to drive human evolution ... shortly after the creation of the first stone tools.

"Once you're on this sort of escalator, powered by the positive feedback between the two evolutions, there's no obvious reason to stop. If you don't suffer some grave, species-wide misfortune a meteor collision, say-you're probably headed for big brains and big-time culture. And somewhere along the way, stone tools are pretty sure to get invented. This is not an event that needs a special 'explanation'. It is just a stage that the escalator passes through (though environmental quirks could of course affect how fast the escalator reaches it) ... So, for the destiny-minded observer, the big question isn't: How likely were stone tools? Given the co-evolutionary escalator, stone tools were automatic. The big question, rather, is: How likely was it that the escalator would get cranked up in the first place? My view (surprise!)is: pretty darn likely. Because however dazzling the cultural achievements at the top of the escalator, the various genetically based assets it takes for a species to embark on the escalator in the first place aren't all that exotic ... That isn't to say that our particular ancestors were destined for embarkation. Indeed, our lineage was just flat-out lucky to find itself in possession of the portfolio of key biological assets. But there's a difference between saying it took great luck for you to be the winner and saying it took great luck for there to be a winner. This is the distinction off which lotteries, casinos, and bingo parlors make their money. In the game of evolution, I submit, it was just a matter of time before one species or another raised its hand (or, at least, its grasping appendage) and said, 'Bingo'."

The book is a fascinating read, partly because it's one of the first books I've encountered that takes a serious look at memes as a possible force in human evolution, as opposed to simply looking at how they function in our current culture. Gradually, step by step, we're led along the path of Wright's thesis. And so far as he's explaining a plausible mechanism as to how we came to be "human" it's extremely convincing.

Alas, Wright doesn't stop there. Because his book is openly teleological in nature (the subtitle is "The Logic of Human Destiny") he extrapolates and looks at where we might be going. For me, the experience was like being led up a tree in pursuit of a small bird or butterfly, only to realize you've just stepped on a branch that's way too thin to support your weight. The final chapters are hugely speculative, and are likely the ones that will draw the most attention (and criticism). Wright's arguments can easily be adapted to argue for the existence of God, or the evolution of humans to some (perhaps pre-ordained?) higher form, analogous to the infamous woolly "Omega Point".

I found the latter part of the book unconvincing. But that's not a criticism of the whole book, which is uniformly excellent. It's a book that I think should be read by a wide audience, because it presents such a creative (and well-written) look at human evolution. It's one of the most innovative books to come along in years. It takes an entirely novel view of a subject that's often taken for granted, and could easily rank up alongside The Selfish Gene as one of the most influential works to popularize human origins in the past thirty years.

While I may not agree with all the conclusions, I think it's an important book that raises a lot of very interesting ideas. Which makes it sound serious and weighty, when it's actually immensely readable and approachable. It's a marvelous read, for the specialist or the casual reader as well. I can't recommend it highly enough.