Saturday, April 19, 2025

The Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

An ebook is available from libraries. Audiobook is available from audible and we have a paper book. I listened to the text to speech of the ebook. The simple thesis of this book is that "genes" are the primary unit of genetic propagation. Organisms are the vehicle for this propagation to get carried out. The author also admits that "cooperative gene" would also be a valid title for the book. 

The text provides examples and additional stories to carry out these points. Having errors in the replication is key to the process. This lets new things appear and change. There is a long discussion of the "prisoner's dilemma" and how that is related to genetic propagation. People may have many descendents. A 20th generation descendent many not have any genetic material that came from this ancestor. However, social knowledge and changes could be passed down.

Though the book has been updated in recent years, some of the original content is present. There is some mention of computer power and resources which is totally out of date, but still makes it's point. (It can be a bit jarring when it is followed by mention of the author getting his genome sequenced.) The book seems fairly long for the points made. 

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