Nonzero
by Robert Wright · first published 2000
71% recommend29% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Argues that human culture advances as win-win, non-zero-sum cooperation replaces zero-sum competition. Offers frameworks that reshape how one thinks about the world and history.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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 s
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…suffer from overly anecdotal arguments. All the books that have actually affected the way I do things tend much more towards theory and frameworks of thought. Our little startup has three holy texts: "Nonzero" by Robert Wright, "The Paradox of Choice" by Barry Schwartz, and "Fooled By Randomness" by Nassim Taleb (which is even more sanctimonious than "The Seven Habits...", but a lot better, too).
on “10 Overrated Business Books (and What to Read Instead)” ↗Has anyone else read "Nonzero" by Robert Wright? It's one of two nonfiction books that have noticeably improved my understanding of the world, with almost daily benefits. (The other is The Black Swan.)
on “Ask HN: Why be an option/futures/day trader when it is zero-sum?” ↗For a readable popularization of the "cooperation trumps competition -- sometimes" view, see Robert Wright's Non-Zero: The Logic of Human Destiny at http://www.amazon.com/Nonzero-The-Logic-Human-Destiny/dp/067... (not an affiliate link). From the publisher's summary at Amazon: "In Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, Wright asserts that, ever since the primordial ooze, life…
on “Sea Otters Are Jerks. So Are Dolphins, Penguins, and Other Adorable Animals” ↗make me warmer, kinder, more sympathetic/empathetic "Nonzero" transmuted me from a cynical fatalist into an unrepentant optimist. The gist is that human culture advances when win/win strategies replace win/lose (zero sum) strategies. Nonzero: The Logic of Human…
on “YC's 2015 Reading List” ↗I like the game theoretic framing. Winners and losers. Currently a zero sum game. Where we non-zero sum games, filled with win-win outcomes. Robert Wright's book Nonzero, which advocates for these kinds of reforms, deeply influenced my worldview, way back when. https://www.amazon.com/Nonzero-Logic-Destiny-Robert-Wright/d... -- I'm a treehugger. During the 90s, I volunteered…
on “What Kind of Problem Is Climate Change?” ↗…and "rights" are practical innovations that make society work better (eg more moral, greater public good). Kinda like the tech tree in games like Civilization. The books "The Mystery of Capital" and "Nonzero" influenced me a lot. Good starting points, optimistic, and more right than wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto_Polar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wright_(journalist) Until…
on “Yahoo Triples Estimate of Breached Accounts to 3B” ↗My game theoretic minded younger self was mightily impressed by Robert Wright's book Non-zero. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonzero:_The_Logic_of_Human_De... Transformed me from an Eeyore into an unrepentant optimist.
on “‘Utopia for Realists?’ – a review” ↗Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny by Robert Wright about biological and cultural evolution shaped and directed by "non-zero-sumness" or synergetic interactions.
on “Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?” ↗Thank you! I've been wondering how to continue learning about the ideas Graeber's writings introduced to me. Graeber's work puts me in the same frame of mind as Robert Wright (Nonzero, Moral Animal) did. Very optimistic. Hudson's anecdote about Deaton refusing to appear on stage with them is hysterical.
on “How religion shaped modern economics” ↗…out-group. Optimistic me continues to believe that society's notions of in-group continues to expand. By fits and starts, including the cycles of backlash. FWIW, I highly recommend Robert Wright's book Nonzero. Helped transmute me into an optimist, despite everything.
…Sometimes it works, a little bit, for a little while. Just because no stable middle path is possible doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Over the ages, we've gotten a bit better at it. h/t Robert Wright's book Nonzero.
on “Democracy Is Losing Its Race with Disruption” ↗…indication, it'll be pretty neat. From this perspective, conducting one's life in accordance with (a weak version of) Pascal's Wager [4] seems like a reasonable course of action. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Nonzero-The-Logic-Human-Destiny/dp/067... (not an affiliate link) [2] http://www.amazon.com/Beside-Still-Waters-Searching-Meaning/... (ditto) [3] http://currentsjournal.org/new_currents_ed_06_01.html [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_Wager
on “The Meaning of Life” ↗…have to ask my direct reports if any of them trusted me. I hope some would say "yes". -- Older me reflecting back on all this stuff... I had hoped life would be more win-win, a la Robert Wright's book Nonzero. But it was mostly transactional relationships, power dynamics, zero sum games (win-lose), so much energy wasted on guarding my boundaries, and then getting exploited whenever I didn't. Basically, it…
on “Kind Engineering [video]” ↗Robert Wright wrote a book called Nonzero a few years back that goes into this in more depth. The idea is that civilization's advance is defined by finding ways to turn zero-sum games (e.g. we kill you and take your resources for ourselves)…
on “The Age of Big War Has Passed” ↗> We see it in cultural evolution too, as Robert Wright explained in his 1999 book, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny. Wright showed that history involves a series of transitions, driven by rising population density plus new technologies (writing, roads, the printing press) that created new…
on “Why the past 10 years of American life have been uniquely stupid” ↗