AI NEWS PAGE DOSSIER
Robert Wright
Robert Wright's file: evolutionary psychology, non-zero-sum history, religion, early web argument, Buddhism, and a 2026 turn toward AI as a civilizational test.
Wright spent decades using evolution, game theory, religion and psychology to ask why human societies cooperate, fight and search for meaning. He then carried that long-running inquiry into artificial intelligence, treating AI as another test of whether humanity can widen its moral and strategic horizon before its technology outruns it.
HOW THE HELL DID ROBERT WRIGHT GET HERE?
1994
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY GETS THE BIG POPULAR TREATMENT
Wright published The Moral Animal, using evolutionary biology to explain human psychology, relationships and moral behavior.
RECEIPTS: WorldCatreported
2000
HISTORY BECOMES A NON-ZERO-SUM GAME
Wright published Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, arguing that biological and cultural evolution repeatedly create larger webs of non-zero-sum cooperation.
RECEIPTS: Google Booksreported
2005
THE ARGUMENT MOVES TO SPLIT-SCREEN INTERNET VIDEO
Wright co-founded Bloggingheads.tv, an early web platform built around long-form split-screen conversations and disagreement about politics and ideas.
RECEIPTS: Bloggingheads.tvfirst-party
2009
RELIGION GETS AN EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY
Wright published The Evolution of God, tracing how religious ideas changed with social structure and arguing that widening cooperation can reshape moral imagination.
RECEIPTS: Library of Congressreported
Aug 8, 2017
THE EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGIST TURNS TO BUDDHISM
Wright published Why Buddhism Is True, connecting evolutionary psychology, meditation and the problem of seeing through cognitive distortions.
RECEIPTS: Simon & Schusterreported
Jun 23, 2026
THE GOD TEST PUTS AI AT THE END OF THE ARC
Wright published The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning, applying his long-running themes of evolution, cooperation and moral development directly to advanced AI.
RECEIPTS: Simon & Schusterreported