The Selfish Gene Chapter One by Richard
Dawkins. The Selfish Gene is an
exploration into the consequences of the
theory of evolution by Charles Darwin,
especially the biology of selfishness
and altruism.
The theory of evolution is important to
our social lives because it extends to
love, hate, fighting and cooperation,
giving and stealing, and greed and
generosity. So Dawkins argues that if we
were told a man lived a long prosperous
life in the world of a Chicago gangster,
we could make assumptions about the sort
of man he was. We could expect he would
have toughness, quick trigger fingers, and
the ability to attract loyal friends.
Similarly, Dawkins central argument is
that we are machines created by our
genes and therefore we can make certain
assumptions about the quality of our
genes. Our genes have survived in a highly
competitive world and therefore a
successful gene which strongly possess
the attributes of ruthless selfishness.
This gene selfishness has implications
in selfish behavior at the individual
level, although there are special
circumstances where genes may achieve
its selfish goals in limited forms of
altruism. Dawkins wants to remind us that
concepts of universal love and welfare
of the species are exceptions within
evolution. He warns that the book is not
advocating a morality based on evolution.
On the contrary, he believes that a human
society based simply on ruthless
selfishness would be a very unpleasant
society to live in. Dawkins advocates
that we must
acknowledge and understand our true nature
so we can overcome them through
educating ourselves in generosity and
altruism. Dawkins reminds us there are
three things before delving into this
book. Firstly, a common misunderstanding
about genes and genetically inherited
traits is that there are fixed and
cannot be changed, and that our behavior
is entirely determined by them. Human
beings are unique in relation to other
species because our behaviors can be
dominated and influenced by culture. This
is the heart of the nature versus
nurture debate and in response to this,
his second reminder is that the book is
not advocating a position in the nature
versus nurture controversy. Thirdly,
Dawkins reminds us he's not drawing
conclusions about the behavior of human
beings through the study of other
species. For example, the observation that
baboons act selfishly must mean that
humans
act selfishly. Instead, his starting points is
attempting to study the way natural
selection works in order to argue that
anything that evolved by natural
selection,
for example, baboons humans and all other
living creatures, should be selfish. In
talking about selfishness in altruism
these terms are behavioral not
subjective. This means Dawkins is not
concerned about conscious selfish
motives. We are just looking at the
effects of an act that lowers or raises
survival prospects or welfare define us
chances of survival.
Even small and trivial influences and
survival probabilities can have a major
impact on evolution given the enormous
length of time, for example, thousands to
millions of years. When we talk of
altruism, we are talking about an act that
apparently makes the altruists more likely
to die and the recipient more likely to
survive. However apparent acts of
altruism could really be selfishness in
disguise. So examples of selfish
behaviors are cannibalism exhibited by
black-headed gulls that swallow each
other's chicks, or the female praying
mantis that bites off its mates head
during copulation, or emperor penguins
that push each other into the water for
fear of being eaten by seals. It could
also involve not sharing valued
resources like food, territory, or sexual
partners. Examples of altruistic
behavior include the suicide of stinging
worker bees against honey robbers or
small birds that give off an alarm to
warn the flock of an incoming hawk but puts
itself in danger of the hawk's attention.
One of the most common acts of altruism
is displayed by mothers towards their
children by nesting, feeding, and taking
risks to protect them. An example is the
distraction display, where a mother bird
feigns injury by limping away from the
nest and holding out one wing to pretend
it was broken. A predator such as a fox
would be lured away from the nest
containing the chicks and then the
parent bird gives up the pretense and leaps
into the air when a fox tries to bite it.
Dawkins dismisses misconceptions of
altruism in biology that living
creatures have evolved to do good things
for the species or the group. The belief
is common because we see it in
reproduction and parental care towards the
young. Theories of group selection state
that individual members prepare to
sacrifice themselves for the welfare of
the group means that the world will be
more populated by groups composed of
self-sacrificing individuals. These group
selection theories have been popularized
by VC Wynne Edwards and Robert
Ardrey, among others. The opposing theory
of group selection is individual
selection, or gene selection, which states
that although there are altruists, there
will likely be dissenting minorities who
refuse to make sacrifices. The dissenter
would exploit the altruism of the rest
and are more likely to survive and have
children who will inherit selfish traits.
After few generations the altruists would
be overrun by the selfish individuals. Of
course, Dawkins acknowledges that this
does not preclude the fact that groups
die out and if individuals had
restrained their selfish greed, it would
have prevented the destruction of the
whole group. However, group extinction is
a slow process and the selfish
individual would still prosper in the
short term at their expense of the
altruists.
Group selection theory may be
appealing based on moral and political
ideas, but then there are problems such
as at what level of the group should we
consider. Should lions and antelopes refrain
from killing each other because they are
both mammals. Dawkin argues that the
best way to look at evolution is to
start at the level of the genes and its
self-interest.
