Robert Wright (journalist)

Wright was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, into a Southern Baptist{{cite web|last=Debold|first=Elizabeth|title=Suggestions of a Larger Purpose An interview with Robert Wright|url=http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j21/wright.asp?page=2|work=enlightennext.org|publisher=Enlightennext Magazine|access-date=25 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003225309/http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j21/wright.asp?page=2|archive-date=3 October 2011}} family and attended public secondary schools in San Francisco, California, and San Antonio, Texas. A self-described "Army brat",{{Cite episode| title = Does History Have A Purpose?| series = THINK TANK | series-link = Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg | network = Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) | airdate = April 1, 2000 | url= https://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript814.html }} Wright attended Texas Christian University for a year in the late 1970s, before transferring to Princeton University, where he studied sociobiology, a precursor to evolutionary psychology. His teachers at Princeton included author John McPhee, whose style influenced Wright's first book, Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information.

Wright was employed as Senior Editor at The Sciences and The New Republic,{{cite web|title=Robert Wright|url=http://www.tnr.com/users/robert-wright|work=tnr.com|publisher=The New Republic|access-date=26 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130108195231/http://www.tnr.com/users/Robert-Wright|archive-date=8 January 2013}} and as an editor at The Wilson Quarterly.{{cite web|title=Articles by: Robert Wright|url=http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/search_result.cfm?fSearch=Robert%20Wright&fSearchType=a&bSearch=Search|work=wilsonquarterly.com|publisher=The Wilson Quarterly|access-date=26 August 2011}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} As a contributing editor at The New Republic, he co-authored the "TRB" column.{{cite news|last=Wright|first=Robert|title=TRB from Washington: The Gay Divorce|url=http://www.nonzero.org/tnrnewt.htm|access-date=26 August 2011|newspaper=The New Republic|date=December 19, 1994|archive-date=28 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928034809/http://www.nonzero.org/tnrnewt.htm|url-status=dead}} He has also worked at Time,{{cite magazine|title=Articles by: Robert Wright|url=http://search.time.com/results.html?D=%22robert+wright%22&sid=132054864292&Ntt=%22robert+wright%22&internalid=endeca_dimension&N=4294825439&Nty=1|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204144340/http://search.time.com/results.html?D=%22robert+wright%22&sid=132054864292&Ntt=%22robert+wright%22&internalid=endeca_dimension&N=4294825439&Nty=1|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 February 2013|magazine=Time|publisher=Time Magazine|access-date=26 August 2011|date=26 April 2004}} and Slate,{{cite web|title=Articles by: Robert Wright|url=http://www.slate.com/default.aspx?id=3944&da=&qt=%22Robert+Wright%22&submit.x=37&submit.y=18|work=slate.com|publisher=Slate Magazine|access-date=26 August 2011}} and has written for The Atlantic Monthly,{{cite web|title=Robert Wright|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/robert-wright/|work=theatlantic.com|publisher=The Atlantic Monthly|access-date=27 August 2011}} The New Yorker,{{cite web|title=Articles by: Robert Wright|url=https://www.newyorker.com/search?qt=dismax&rows=10&sort=score+desc&query=&submit.x=50&submit.y=6&bylquery=robert+wright&month1=-1&day1=-1&year1=-1&month2=-1&day2=-1&year2=-1|work=newyorker.com|publisher=The New Yorker|access-date=27 August 2011}} and The New York Times Magazine. He has occasionally contributed to The New York Times, putting in a stint as guest columnist in April 2007 and in 2010 acting as a contributor to The Opinionator,{{cite news|last=Wright|first=Robert|title=The Opinionator - All Posts by Robert Wright|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/robert-wright/|work=The New York Times|date=19 January 2011 |access-date=25 August 2011}} a web-only opinion page. Wright assumed the title of senior editor of The Atlantic on January 1, 2012.{{cite video | people = Robert Wright, Mickey Kaus | date = November 30, 2011 | title = Dunkirk | url = http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/3224 | medium = Videotaped| access-date = January 26, 2012}} In February 2015 the magazine's author page describes him as "a former senior editor at The Atlantic."{{Cite web|last=Robert Wright|title=Robert Wright|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/robert-wright/|access-date=2020-08-27|website=The Atlantic|date=21 November 2014 |language=en-US}}

In early 2000s, Wright taught occasionally at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania, leading a graduate seminar called "Religion and Human Nature" and teaching an undergraduate course called "The Evolution of Religion." At Princeton, Wright was a Laurence S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellow{{cite web|title=Previous Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellows|url=http://uchv.princeton.edu/people/lsr_visiting_fellows_archive.php|work=uchv.princeton.edu|publisher=Princeton University|access-date=26 August 2011|archive-date=15 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215103717/https://uchv.princeton.edu/people/lsr_visiting_fellows_archive.php|url-status=dead}} and co-taught a graduate seminar with Peter Singer on the biological basis of moral intuition.{{cite book|last=Wright|first=Robert|title=The Evolution of God|year=2009|publisher=Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group|location=Acknowledgments|isbn=978-0-316-73491-2|pages=576|url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionofgod00wrig}} In 2014, Wright taught a six-week Coursera MOOC on "Buddhism and Modern Psychology".{{Cite web|title=Buddhism and Modern Psychology|url=https://www.coursera.org/learn/science-of-meditation|access-date=2020-08-27|website=Coursera|language=en}} In 2019, Wright was a Visiting Professor of Science and Religion at Union Theological Seminary, New York. Also in 2019, Wright was a Senior Fellow at the think tank New America.{{cite web |title=Robert Wright |url=https://www.newamerica.org/our-people/robert-wright/ |website=New America |access-date=21 November 2019}}

In 2002, Wright ventured into video-on-Internet with his MeaningofLife.tv website, developed by Greg Dingle,{{cite web |url=http://www.meaningoflife.tv/ |title=Meaningoflife.tv |access-date=2006-11-10 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020305202812/http://www.meaningoflife.tv/ |archive-date=March 5, 2002 }} where he interviewed a range of thinkers on their ideas about science, philosophy, meditation, spirituality, and other topics. Meaningoflife.tv is sponsored by Slate magazine, and made possible through funding by the Templeton Foundation.{{cite web|title=About Us|url=http://www.meaningoflife.tv/aboutus.php|work=meaningoflife.tv|access-date=27 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811123337/http://meaningoflife.tv/aboutus.php|archive-date=11 August 2011}} Other hosts include John Horgan, Daniel Kaufman, Nikita Petrov, and Aryeh Cohen-Wade.

{{main|Bloggingheads.tv}}

File:Bloggingheads Moose comparison.png comparing stuffed moose visual aids on Bloggingheads.tv]]

On November 1, 2005, Wright, blogger Mickey Kaus, and Greg Dingle launched Bloggingheads.tv,{{cite web|title=About Us|url=http://bloggingheads.tv/about/|work=bloggingheads.tv|access-date=27 August 2011}} a current-events diavlog. Bloggingheads diavlogs are conducted via webcam, and can be viewed online or downloaded either as WMV or MP4 video files or as MP3 sound files. New diavlogs are posted approximately 5-10 times a week and are archived. While many diavlogs feature Wright, other hosts at Bloggingheads.tv include Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, Bill Scher, Matt Lewis, Kat Rosenfield, Phoebe Maltz-Bovy, and Aryeh Cohen-Wade.

Wright has written extensively on the topic of religion, particularly in The Evolution of God. In 2009, When asked by Bill Moyers if God is a figment of the human imagination, Wright responded:{{Cite episode| series = Bill Moyers Journal | title = Robert Wright interview | url = https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07172009/watch2.html | access-date = August 27, 2011 | network = PBS | location = New York | airdate = July 17, 2009 | time = 33:29 (3:40 minutes in) | transcript-url = https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07172009/transcript2.html | transcript = (transcript link)}}

{{Quote |I would say so. Now, I don't think that precludes the possibility that as ideas about God have evolved people have moved closer to something that may be the truth about ultimate purpose and ultimate meaning... Very early on, apparently, people started imagining sources of causality, imagining things out there making things happen. And early on there were shamans who had mystical experiences that even today a Buddhist monk would say were valid forms of apprehension of the divine or something. But by and large I think people were making up stories that would help them control the world.}}

On The Colbert Report, Wright said he was "not an atheist" but did not subscribe to any of the three Abrahamic religions.{{cite web|title=The Colbert Report - Robert Wright|url=http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/247057/august-18-2009/robert-wright|work=colbertnation.com|publisher=Comedy Central|access-date=27 August 2011}} He opposes creationism, including intelligent design. Wright has a materialist conception of natural selection; however, he is intrigued by the possibility of some larger purpose unfolding, natural selection possibly being itself the product of design,{{Cite episode | title = Robert Wright interviews Daniel Dennett (1 of 8) | series = YouTube.com video | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5eUnpsJGRk | access-date = August 27, 2011 | publisher = Meaningoflife.tv | date = December 16, 2008 | time = 6:44 | transcript-url = http://www.meaningoflife.tv/transcript.php?speaker=dennett | transcript = (transcript link)

}} in the context of teleology.{{Cite episode | title = The Evolution of God | series = YouTube.com video | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Wok8rMg_w& | access-date = August 27, 2011 | publisher = evolutionofgod | date = June 2, 2009 | time = 4:27 | language = en}} Wright describes what he calls the "changing moods of God," arguing that religion is adaptable and based on the political, economic, and social circumstances of the culture, rather than strictly scriptural interpretation.{{Cite episode | title = Authors@Google: Robert Wright | series = YouTube.com video | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC4q-dhaTYU | access-date = August 27, 2011 | publisher = Google | date = June 30, 2009 | time = 5:11 | language = en}}

Wright has also been critical of organized atheism. He has described himself as a secular humanist.{{cite video | people = Robert Wright, Sam Harris | date = October 9, 2010 | title = Sam Harris vs. Robert Wright - Council for Secular Humanism conference 1/10 | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ9aMthqOig | format = SWF/FLV/Flash/H.264 | medium = Videotaped | publisher = Council for Secular Humanism | location = Los Angeles | access-date = August 27, 2011 | time = 11:40}} Wright makes a distinction between religion being wrong and bad and resists the notion that its bad effects necessarily outweigh its good effects. He sees organized atheism as attempting to actively convert people in the same way as many religions do. Wright has said that it is counterproductive to think of religion as being the root cause of today's problems.{{cite video | people = Robert Wright, Sam Harris | date = October 9, 2010| title = Sam Harris vs. Robert Wright - Council for Secular Humanism conference 1/10| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ9aMthqOig| format = SWF/FLV/Flash/H.264| medium = Videotaped| publisher = Council for Secular Humanism | location = Los Angeles | access-date = August 27, 2011 | time = 13:50}}

In Why Buddhism is True, Wright investigates a secular, Westernized form of Buddhism focusing on the practice of mindfulness meditation and stripped of the element of reincarnation.{{cite web|last1=Illing|first1=Sean|title=Why Buddhism is true|url=https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/23/16179044/buddhism-meditation-mindfulness-robert-wright-interview|publisher=Vox|access-date=30 October 2017|date=12 October 2014}} He believes Buddhism's diagnosis of the causes of human suffering is largely vindicated by evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology, justifying his book's title.{{cite web|title=Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation | Kirkus Review|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/robert-wright/why-buddhism-is-true/|website=Kirkus Reviews|access-date=14 December 2017}} He further argues that the modern psychological idea of the modularity of mind resonates with the Buddhist teaching of no-self (anatman).

Wright lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with his wife Lisa; they have two daughters. Two of their dogs, named Frazier{{cite video | people = Robert Wright, Mickey Kaus | date = June 11, 2008 | title = Scarlett Johansson Edition | url = http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/11864?in=00:02:13.5&out=00:02:43 | format = SWF/FLV/Flash | medium = Webcam (recorded) | publisher = bloggingheads.tv | time = 2:15 | access-date = August 26, 2011}} and Milo,{{cite video | people = Robert Wright, Mickey Kaus | date = June 3, 2008 | title = Puppies!!! | url = http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/11598?in=00:00:06&out=00:02:14 | format = SWF/FLV/Flash | medium = Webcam (recorded) | publisher = bloggingheads.tv | time = 0:15 | access-date = August 26, 2011}} have been featured in Bloggingheads.tv episodes.

{{Category see also|Books by Robert Wright (journalist)}}

• 1989 Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information. {{ISBN|0-06-097257-2}}
• 1994 The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology. {{ISBN|0-679-76399-6}}
• 1999 Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny. {{ISBN|0-679-75894-1}}
• 2009 The Evolution of God. Little, Brown and Company. {{ISBN|0-316-73491-8}}
• 2017 Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment. {{ISBN|1439195455}}

• The Evolution of God was one of three finalists for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.{{cite web|title=Finalists have been announced since 1980.|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/General+Nonfiction|work=pulitzer.org|publisher=The Pulitzer Prizes|access-date=27 August 2011}}
• The New York Times Book Review chose Wright's The Moral Animal as one of the ten best books of 1994;{{cite news|title=Editors' Choice 1994|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/editorschoice94.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=27 August 2011}} it was a national bestseller and has been published in at least twelve languages.
• Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny was a The New York Times Book Review Notable Book in the year 2000 and has been published in at least nine languages. Fortune magazine included Nonzero on a list of "the 75 smartest [business-related] books of all time."{{cite news|title=The Smartest Books We Know|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/03/21/8254826/index.htm|work=money.cnn.com|publisher=Fortune Magazine|access-date=27 August 2011|first=Jerry|last=Useem|date=21 March 2005}}
• Wright's first book, Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information, was published in 1988 and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award.{{cite web|title=All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists|url=http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards/|work=bookcritics.org|publisher=National Book Critics Circle|access-date=27 August 2011|archive-date=4 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604095541/http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards/|url-status=dead}}
• Wright's column "The Information Age," written for The Sciences magazine, won the National Magazine Award for Essay and Criticism.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

{{reflist|2}}

• {{Twitter}}
• {{IMDb name|4612515}}
• {{C-SPAN|1968}}
• [http://evolutionofgod.net/ EvolutionofGod.net] - A website for Wright's book The Evolution of God
• [http://nonzero.org Nonzero.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421230057/http://nonzero.org/ |date=2021-04-21 }} - A website for Wright's book Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
• [http://bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv]
• [http://www.meaningoflife.tv MeaningofLife.tv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020305202812/http://www.meaningoflife.tv/ |date=2002-03-05 }}
• [https://mindfulresistance.net Wright's Mindful Resistance newsletter]
• [http://www.slate.com/authors.robert_wright.html Contributions to Slate magazine]
• [https://open.substack.com/pub/declarations/p/explanatory-power-062?r=23brs Literary Nonfiction Piece on Wright]

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Category:1957 births

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Category:American male journalists

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Category:Critics of New Atheism

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