I'm currently reading The Best American Nonrequired Reading, edited by Dave Eggers, in which there's a chapter dedicated to the Edge Foundation's annual "What Is Your Most Dangerous Idea" compilation. In it, author and publisher of Skeptic magazine Michael Shermer shares his...

"Where goods cross frontiers, armies won't. Restated: Where economic borders between two nations are porous, political borders become impervious to armies... Data from the new science of evolutionary economics, behavioral economics and neuroeconomics reveal that when people are free to cooperate and trade, they establish trust that is reinforced through neural pathways that release such bonding hormones as oxcytocin. Thus modern biology reveals that where people are free to cooperate and trade, they are less likely to fight and kill those with whom they are cooperating and trading."

- Sarah