Having set up the game of civilization in a formal way, let’s see how the rules proposed in our manual apply to reality. It turns out that intelligent voluntary cooperation is already a prominent engine in the history of civilization and that there are concrete things we can do to strengthen them in the game ahead.

Voluntarism

Voluntarism So Far: Voluntary Schelling Points Emerge

How has voluntarism shaped our civilization game? Data on prehistoric societies suggests that our ancestors lived with extraordinarily awful rates of violence. Since then, violent deaths have decreased, first relative to population size, and more recently in absolute numbers. Major powers have not fought a physical war in a while, and while there are more civil conflicts, they bring fewer deaths. The decline in violence hasn’t been perfect, especially more recently, but it has gradually shifted the balance of our interactions from involuntary interactions towards voluntary ones. We increasingly have the freedom to say no to interactions without being forced into them.

With cooperation becoming a better strategy than violence to achieve our goals, it became beneficial to understand other players' goals so we can offer them cooperative opportunities. If I need money, and want to sell you a product you want, it pays if I can imagine what kind of product you would enjoy. Effective cooperation, such as in commerce, involves creating situations in which others serving our goals serves theirs as well. The instrumental goal of cooperating evolved into the felt goal of caring about others' goals, i.e. empathy. Global mass media may have helped extend our empathy by increasing our ability to put ourselves in the shoes of strangers. Seeing each other as fellow humans, rather than dangerous outsiders, further reduces the impetus for violence.^[1]

The benefit of already being in a civilization largely driven to transcend involuntary interaction is the creation of a framework we have more interest in supporting than destroying.

Think of one of the many bloody territorial wars across history. Often, not even victors come out net positive.All players have an interest in avoiding such costly struggles. All sides should want to find a point of mutual agreement without anyone feeling they’ve made too much of a concession. If they can agree a disputed territ...

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