I've been reading 'Nonzero' by Robert Wright, a book which tackles nothing less than the whole history of life. Wright proposes that the history of the advancement of life is the history of larger and larger entities learning to work cooperatively. The name of the book comes from an idea in game theory; a zero-sum game is one where a gain by one player is necessarily a loss to another player. The struggle over scarce resources is often zero-sum — an acquisition by one person is a loss to another. A non-zero-sum game, then, can result in a win by both players if they work together. The increase in non-zero-sumness over history has made us more interconnected, and lead to a greater average level of prosperity over time. It's a fascinating concept, and one that Wright does a wonderful job of supporting with history and science. One particular point had me thinking last night, though. He highlights the parallels between the interconnections of individuals in a society and the interconnections of neurons in the brain. Others have made this connection before, but reading this book has made me think more deeply about it. Last night I was talking with Dave about the 'liberalizing' effect of education, and how if you view it from a purely materialistic standpoint, it really doesn't do an individual much good. He said that the thoughtful portion of a society served as the society's 'conscience', and that thought stuck with me. The 'liberal' discussion worked as the superego to the 'conservative' ego. I think it made such an impression because it fell right in with the metaphor of society as a global being. We also discussed what part of education caused the liberalizing viewpoint shift — I said it was a change in values, and particularly what a person values, due to a wider view of your role in history and society, and Dave said it was the process of learning to argue points based on facts, to convince and be convinced through rational discussion. I think there is truth in both of those, but I'm not sure that either does a good job of getting to the root of the matter.