The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a book on the evolution of selfishness. The author describes how genes have been contributing to human society through many different means, such as assisting in competition for resources and passing along knowledge among groups. He also discusses how our struggle to survive has led us to develop morality and empathy, which he believes can overcome self-interest.
The “the selfish gene book summary” is a book written by Richard Dawkins. The first chapter of the book discusses how genes are passed on from one generation to the next, and how they evolve over time.
Are you seeking for a synopsis of Richard Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene? You’ve arrived to the correct location.
I completed reading this book last week and took notes on some of Richard Dawkins’ important points.
If you don’t have time, you don’t have to read the whole book. This summary will give you a quick overview of what you can expect to learn from this book.
Let’s get started without further ado.
I’ll go through the following points in my synopsis of The Selfish Gene:
What Is The Selfish Gene and What Does It Mean?
When contemplating the process of evolution, The Selfish Gene is a seminal 1976 publication in biology that illustrates how genes are selfish.
Richard Dawkins uses this hypothesis of gene selfishness to explain the great spectrum of animal behavior found on Earth.
Who wrote The Selfish Gene and who is the author?
Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, is the author of a number of notable scientific publications, including The Blind Watchmaker and The Extended Phenotype.
Richard Dawkins is a devout atheist and a vocal opponent of religion. He founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science after publishing his book The God Delusion.
For Whom Is The Selfish Gene Designed?
The Selfish Gene is not suitable for all people. If you are one of the following folks, you may like the book:
- Anyone who is curious in the cosmos and their position within it.
- Anyone interested in biology, whether a student or not, is invited to attend.
Summary of the Book The Selfish Gene
Lesson 1: Evolution is driven by limited resources and variable talents.
About 3.5 billion years ago, life on Earth started in its most basic form: a replicator, a molecule capable of copying itself.
A molecular replicator is built up of chains of smaller building blocks, similar to how a word is formed up of letters. By attracting and serving as a template for additional letters, the replicator duplicates itself.
Because they couldn’t reproduce themselves, the first replicator had a competitive edge over all other molecules in the primordial soup. As a result, replicators grew in number faster than other molecules.
However, faults in the copying process allowed “daughter” replicators to have slightly different configurations than their “parent,” allowing certain “daughters” to duplicate themselves quicker or more correctly than their “parent,” giving them an edge over their “parent.”
As additional replicators were generated, a limited amount of building-block molecules in the primordial soup were progressively depleted.
Both of these principles are required for evolution to occur: a population with varying capacities and a constrained environment.
Additional copying faults throughout time resulted in new beneficial qualities, including as the capacity to break down other replicators and utilize their building blocks for replication: the first carnivores.
As a consequence of the formation of novel variants and the survival of replicators with the most beneficial features, more complex living forms developed.
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Lesson 2: Because genes may persist in numerous copies and are therefore near-immortal, they are the building blocks of evolution.
Differential survival is the basis of evolution: given a population of beings with differing capacities, some survive and reproduce while others die out.
Genes, however, are the basic units in which evolution functions, contrary to popular belief: fragments of DNA, the replicator molecule that makes up all life on Earth.
Individuals are unable to fulfill a fundamental criterion: genes are replicated in many distinct bodies and are not unique. Blue-eyed people, for example, have a copy of the blue-eyed gene in their cells.
Most creatures, on the other hand, are unable to reproduce themselves as identical clones. The genetic composition of two parents is mixed in sexual reproduction to form a new, unique person.
Genes are almost eternal since they exist in several copies. Genes can survive for hundreds, if not millions, of years, while creatures live for just a few decades.
While you are likely to have some of your ancestors’ genes in your cells, at the absolute least some of them will be handed on to your offspring.
Genes are good candidates for evolution to work on because of their multitude and immortality.
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Lesson 3: By definition, genes are selfish: they gain from their own survival at the cost of others.
Genes that are “selfish” promote their own survival at the cost of other organisms. Genes do not have conscious motivations; they just act in a self-centered manner.
Similarly, evolution may seem to be driven by the objective of generating organisms that are adapted to certain surroundings, but it is not doing so intentionally.
Genes occur in bundles called chromosomes, which are kept within the cells that make up an organism.
We must look at the physical context in which genes live to understand why they seem selfish. There are 46 chromosomes in the human body, each containing 23 pairs.
A gene for eye color will be present in the same spot on both chromosomes since each pair’s chromosomes are arranged identically. One gene may be connected to blue eyes while the other is associated to brown eyes; the two variants may not be identical.
Genes for the same feature may have many alleles; the eye-color gene, for example, has various alleles.
Because alleles fight for the same spot on the chromosome, any survival advantage gained by one is inevitably selfish: it reduces the probability of the other alleles surviving.
Lesson 4: A gene’s phenotype, or how its coding appears in its environment, affects whether or not it survives.
Genes are all fragments of DNA with a physical structure that is comparable. The information they encode is what distinguishes them.
The letters A, T, C, and G stand for four different kinds of molecules that make up a person’s DNA.
These fundamental building blocks, like every word in the English language, may be joined into numerous and intricate DNA sequences that describe every attribute of a creature.
This code is used to construct an organism’s body. Differences in the coding are represented as traits like longer legs, which provide a survival advantage for antelopes fleeing cheetahs. Long-legged antelopes, on the other hand, manage to escape and create young with the gene – or code – for long-leggedness.
As a result, the gene persists via influencing the antelope’s body. Genes present themselves physically as phenotypes.
The consequences of a gene, on the other hand, are not always limited to the body to which it belongs. Virus genes do not have their own bodies; instead, they alter the cells of the host body they infect, causing the host body to sneeze, allowing the virus to propagate and so live.
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Lesson 5: How to Survive A gene’s success is determined by both its physical and genetic surroundings.
Because of their fundamentally diverse surroundings, a tiger’s camouflage differs significantly from that of a polar bear. It’s doubtful that a gene for tiger camouflage will survive in an arctic climate.
Genes are impacted by the genes surrounding them, in addition to the physical environment: all the variants of a species’ genes in the same gene pool. Genes may be specific to a species, such as genes for producing wings or carnivorous teeth, or they can be shared between species.
Genes, no matter how valuable, are mostly dependent on which genes share their gene pool with them in order to flourish or fail.
A gene for sharp carnivore teeth is unlikely to persist in the gene pool of a herbivorous species because the gene pool lacks other genes necessary for carnivore survival, such as the capacity to digest meat.
As a consequence of continual genetic mixing during sexual reproduction, each member of a species develops a unique collection of alleles.
Certain allele combinations are more favorable than others. Consider a bird with two alleles: one that increases wingspan and the other that increases tail feathers.
Birds carrying both alleles will fly quicker, but birds carrying just one allele may be imbalanced and fly slower. As a consequence, each allele succeeds only if the other is present.
Lesson 6: Organisms are made up of groupings of genes that only work together because they have the same reproductive mechanism.
A gene influences a particular trait of the creature to which it belongs, such as speed, strength, or camouflage. When a beneficial impact occurs, the creature produces children that have the gene, guaranteeing its survival.
Genes, on the other hand, cannot generate an organism on their own. Tens of thousands of genes must collaborate to build something as complicated as the human body. So, if genes are basically selfish, why do they collaborate in this way?
Genes inside a single organism share a reproductive mechanism and a shared goal: they all want the organism’s sperm or eggs to replicate and survive as much as possible.
A parasite like a tapeworm may infect a host, but its genes do not collaborate with the host’s since they do not have the same reproductive machinery.
A whole organism is the total of its phenotypes, which is the consequence of gene collaboration. Essentially, the genes build a creature around themselves, and this organism produces offspring that have copies of the same genes, which is how they survive.
Individual genes in an organism collaborate to guarantee survival, but since their genes don’t share a common reproductive pathway, we shouldn’t anticipate individuals within a group to cooperate.
In contrast, each person should seek to produce and preserve its own eggs or sperm, and hence behave selfishly toward the other members of its community, as directed by its genes.
However, as we shall see when we look at the phenomena of altruism, this is not always the case.
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Lesson 7: Genes encode survival strategies into the brains they create.
It may take generations for a gene’s phenotypic – for example, larger legs – to achieve a competitive advantage over another gene.
Nonetheless, a body constructed by genes must be able to adapt quickly to external cues such as the need to feed, fight, or run in order to live.
Genes allow creatures to construct brains that allow them to adapt swiftly to changing environmental conditions. Such responses are referred to as “behavior.”
It’s difficult for an organism to anticipate every event that may emerge in the natural world.
An comparison may be drawn between how a computer is coded and how ‘rules’ influence behavioral reactions.
An organism, for example, may perceive sweet-tasting substances as rewarding and repeat acts that result in such rewards.
The disadvantage of rule-based programming is that it cannot always respond to drastic changes in the environment. People’s desire to sweet tastes is a driver of today’s obesity crisis in today’s calorie-dense culture.
Intelligent creatures may utilize a learning method and a simulation technique to reduce the detrimental effects of outdated regulations.
When learning, an action is conducted to see whether it’s a good idea, and then the outcome is recalled; during simulation, an activity is modeled beforehand, which not only saves time but also prevents possibly risky acts.
A species that understands it’s a terrible idea to leap from a cliff has an edge over one that needs to attempt it to find out.
Lesson 8: In a population, competing strategies produce stable patterns of behavior.
Individual members of a species compete for resources directly, which may lead to conflict. You have many options for dealing with these situations, ranging from running to battling to the death.
The behavioral methods used by an organism may differ significantly, and some are more likely to be beneficial to the organism’s survival – and its genes – than others.
An organism’s behavior is determined by what occurs around it, just as a gene’s success is dictated by its environment.
Consider the following three forms of bird behavior during confrontations:
- When “doves” are assaulted, they escape.
- A gang of “Hawks” who assault and battle until badly injured;
- “Retaliators,” who seem to be Doves until they are assaulted, at which time they transform into Hawks.
Hawks have a lot of success attacking Dove populations since no Dove can stand up to them. As a consequence, the number with Hawk genes grows.
Hawks are regularly wounded in intense fighting with other Hawks, thus when the population is dominated by Hawks, the number of Doves starts to climb.
Neither the Hawk nor the Dove could effectively attack the other’s population, making neither a stable evolutionary strategy.
Retaliators, on the other hand, aren’t hurt by unwarranted aggressiveness, but they do take action when it’s essential (unlike the Dove). As a result, neither Hawks nor Doves would prosper in a Retaliator population; the Retaliators’ method is evolutionarily stable.
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Lesson 9: Altruistic behaviors such as parental caring are explained by genes with selfish survival motivations.
Because genes control behavior and genes are selfish, it is logical to assume selfish conduct in a group of creatures.
Nonetheless, there are countless instances of altruistic conduct in nature, including numerous cases of exceptionally dedicated parental care, such as when a mother bird pretends to have a damaged wing to lure a fox away from her young.
In this case, altruism is behaving in a manner that jeopardizes one’s own life for the sake of another.
Consider one of the most fundamental features of genes: they may exist in numerous copies in different species, and the seeming conflict vanishes.
Genes therefore encode behaviors that benefit their copies in other organisms, even if the advantage to the gene outweighs the cost to the creature.
How does a gene know whether its genes are duplicated in another organism? Genes aren’t aware of anything since they aren’t conscious. Despite this, species that have the same genes are related. As a result, genes that program organisms to assist one another in gaining a survival advantage also contribute to similar behaviors.
However, altruism is not always repaid in the same manner. Although children and parents are inextricably linked, parents act more altruistically toward their offspring than vice versa. Parents must guarantee that their children reach reproductive age in order for their genes to persist beyond one generation.
Children, on the other hand, place a lower priority on their parents’ survival and well-being, resulting in an imbalance in altruistic conduct.
Lesson 10: Because they benefit both hosts, altruistic activities are generally more effective than merely selfish ones.
The idea of a zero-sum or non-zero-sum game is helpful in describing interactions between organisms.
In a zero-sum scenario, one side wins and the other loses; for example, a cheetah pursuing an antelope would either kill or starve the antelope.
A non-zero-sum game, on the other hand, pits both players against a bank that controls the resources. If one player wins, it does not imply the other will lose. Players may either stab one other in the back to get more resources from the bank, or they can work together to outsmart it, depending on the rules.
In the natural world, species often fight for resources. Even while many circumstances, such as with cheetahs and antelopes, are zero-sum games, it may still be beneficial for creatures to collaborate, either with other members of their own species or with other species.
Ants, for example, “milk” insects known as aphids for their delicious secretions. Although the aphids may see this arrangement as exploitative, battle-ready ants are really safeguarding them from predators.
Inside anthills, aphids are sometimes raised and protected by ants. As a result, both ant and aphid genes profit from the collaboration. A selfish aim can be to improve survival, but the only way to get there is via mutual altruism.
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Lesson 11: Human culture develops as well, and the meme is its fundamental unit.
Culture is one of humanity’s most distinguishing characteristics: those parts of our life that are neither instinctual nor survival-related, such as language, clothes, nutrition, rituals, conventions, and art.
Basic human psychology and interests are most likely derived from the survival benefits of mutual altruism and aiding kin, but this does not account for the complexity and diversity of cultures.
Culture, on the other hand, may be seen as the cultural counterpart of a gene pool, with memes functioning as the fundamental unit of cultural development.
A meme is a short item of culture with the potential to survive forever, such as a song, an idea, or a YouTube video of a cat dancing. The transmission techniques are those used in human communication: voice, writing, and the Internet.
Memes, like genes, compete with one another. Even though evolution and creationism are diametrically opposed, they all compete for our attention and memory.
Memes are similar to genes in that they work together to generate complex creatures. The Catholic Church is based on the idea of an all-powerful God.
By separating culture from biology, it is easier to comprehend strange expressions of mankind, such as celibacy, that go against biological imperatives.
Culture, being a self-contained evolutionary system with its own replicators, requires those replicators to live inside that system. Factors other than biological survival do not always impact the meme pool.
Meme success is influenced by the environment in which they develop, just as gene success is determined by the environment in which they grow — from which we might deduce that the Internet encourages movies of dancing cats!
Lesson 12: Through deliberate human foresight, we may overcome undesired biological gene selfishness.
Even though each person is driven by their genes, behavioral models predict that communities would ultimately settle on a stable strategy and that populations that participate in a mutually altruistic approach will perform well.
However, in other cases, ignoring the genes’ immediate survival interests might improve the situation. Consider a population where two species, Hawks and Doves, with opposing conflict techniques.
When confronted, the Hawks will always attack and battle until death or significant injury, but the Doves will retreat if assaulted. Despite the fact that the Hawks frequently defeat individual Doves, their tactic is ineffective in the long term due to the damage they receive from battling one other.
The ‘conspiracy of Doves,’ in which people choose to be Doves rather than Hawks in order to gain the long-term advantages of peace and prevent damage and death, is the solution that benefits everyone.
Because genes lack awareness and foresight, they will never be able to join a Doves conspiracy, even if it is ultimately in their best interests.
Humans, on the other hand, are capable of conscious foresight. We have already removed ourselves from biological imperatives if we conceive of our civilization in memetic terms.
We can utilize our foresight to overcome gene selfishness and, at the very least, participate in the Doves’ conspiracy for our own advantage, even if we aren’t genetically or inherently altruistic.
It’s even feasible that we’ll be able to achieve genuine altruism without the help of nature.
Final Thoughts
Natural selection occurs on genes, not people or species, in the evolution process.
Genes are selfish by definition, in that they benefit themselves at the cost of others.
All animal actions may be linked back to their genes’ selfishness.
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Additional Reading
If you like The Selfish Gene, you may be interested in the following book summaries:
The Selfish Gene is available for purchase.
If you’re interested in purchasing The Selfish Gene, click on the following links:
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Alternatively, you may go through all of the book summaries.
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The “selfish gene examples” is a book about the theory of evolution that was written by Richard Dawkins. The book discusses how genes can be selfish and how they have an impact on human behavior.
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