Almost everyone has heard of genetics in one way or another. But by treating chains of acids exclusively as an encrypted set of properties of our organisms, we miss a great deal of the essence of what is happening, if not everything.
Dawkins proposes a radical shift of perspective: it is not organisms that use genes for reproduction, but genes that use organisms as “survival machines.” We are temporary shells that genes build for their propagation. This is not a metaphor, but a literal description of how evolution works at the molecular level.
Key Ideas
The gene as a unit of selection. Darwin spoke about species and individuals. Dawkins goes lower: selection works at the level of genes. An organism is a coalition of genes temporarily united for survival.
Evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS). Why is there a balance in nature between predators and prey, altruists and egoists? Dawkins explains this through game theory: some behavioral strategies are resistant to the “invasion” of alternative strategies.
Memes. It was in this book that Dawkins introduced the concept of the “meme,” a unit of cultural information that spreads like genes. Melodies, ideas, fashions: all these are memes competing for a place in our heads.
Altruism and kin selection. Why do bees sacrifice themselves for the hive? Because worker bees are genetically closer to their sisters than they would be to their own children. “Altruism” is the egoism of genes calculated at the level of kinship.
What The Book Changes
After The Selfish Gene, it is hard to look at nature with the same eyes as before. A peacock’s tail, mating dances, parental care: all this gains a new meaning as strategies of replicators.
The book came out in 1976, but to this day remains the best introduction to evolutionary biology for non-specialists. Dawkins writes clearly, wittily, and without condescension to the reader.