Analysis of The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins - Book Report/Review Example

Human Genetics Richard Dowkins in his 1989 30th anniversary edition called The Selfish Gene offers a potential label at the front cover. The author chooses an interesting theme that researchers are aware that genes contain instructions for protein assembly. It is amazing to note that some researchers have initiated attempts to map genes to specific chromosomes. The author recollects the first and second edition to publish the 30th anniversary edition. The author in this edition stresses on altruism while focusing on Darwinism theory of natural selection. It is possible to favor altruism at different levels. If natural selection still applies, one might expect the individual organisms to behave in altruistic way to favor other species. That can lead to a limit in the birth rates to conserve species and reduce instance of over population. The author believes that kin altruism is one of the ways that gene selfishness will translate to individual altruism. The author argues that individuals are born selfish while they can learn generosity and altruism. The theme of “Selfish Gene” that all livings are created through genes. The author strongly argues that a predominant quality of a successful gene is ruthless selfishness. Dowkins (24)”Why are People?” argue that living things exist on earth for many years without understanding their purpose of existence. Darwin is the first person to state a tenable account through the theory of evolution concerning our existence. Natural selection still applies in the contemporary world such a world of prosperity enjoyed by Chicago gangsters. People‘s genes survive for many years in a competitive environment. A selfish gene gives rise to selfishness trait in individual behavior. The author does not believe in concepts such as universal love and the welfare of species in evolution. A human society using universal ruthless selfishness will make it unbearable to survive. The author reinstates his point that we can attempt to learn altruism and generosity since individuals are born selfish. in as much as our genes may be selfish, one can learn generosity as man has unique dominance of culture. The author believes that in a group of species, individual members that sacrifice themselves for the welfare group do not face extinction as the rival group does. Dowkins (35)”The Replicators” claim that Darwin theory of natural selection is beneficial since it shows a simple life changing to a complex life. Darwin provides a solution to the reason behind individual existence. Modern living organisms appear in large complex molecules. For example, the hemoglobin contains different layers of molecules and amino acids. Prior to an individual coming to earth rudimentary evolution of molecules, occur in chemistry and physics processes. Darwin’s theory attempts to explain the formation of earth through atoms and molecules. Different researchers conclude that the formation of a replicator molecule is through accident. A molecule has the capability of making copies of it to make a chain of complex molecules. A replicator appears as a template in a large molecule consisting of different types of molecules. A population having identical replicas has different varieties where some are stable than others. Dowkins (44) “Immortal Coils” informs on the innumerable species in planet earth for instance insects alone can total a zillion. The DNA distinguishes individuals’ replicator on all the survival machines. The author states that DNA entails a long chain of nucleotides that consist of A, T, C, and G building blocks. The function of DNA is to replicate and make identical copies of molecules. A hemoglobin molecule is an example of DNA that copies itself using the 4-letter nucleotide alphabet. A gene-complex contains discrete replicators or genes that arise due to sexual phenomenon. In natural selection, some species die while others survive so that selective death can have an impact in the world. A gene travels straight through intermediate generation without merging with others. Darwinism proved the possibility of merging with other genes as provided by Mendel wrong. Individuals compare to the clouds in the sky since they do not depict stability in evolutionary time. Every individual is unique while one cannot get evolution by selecting unique entities. The author emphasizes of the immortality of a gene using evolutionary theory. Dowkins (89) “Aggression: Stability and The Selfish Machine” state that natural selection favors a gene that can control their survival machines that will make the most of the environment. The survival machines influence each other when they compete for scarce resources such as bees acting as pollen carriers by flowers. Members of the same sex compete for mating partners where one male can benefit to the detriment of another. The aggression stresses on the restrained and courteous nature of animal fighting. The author informs of five different strategies that include prober-retaliator, conditioned strategist, hawk, and dove scenario, and bully strategist. Most people employ a non-arbitrary asymmetry where a person picks fights with a smaller individual and run away in presence of a larger individual. In “Family Planning” Dowkins explains why some people tend to separate parental care from other kinds of kin-selected altruism. The author draws a distinction between childbearing and child caring. To an extent, caring and bearing compete with each other for time and resource. A pure caring strategy is impossible in real life as a population as the invasion of mutant individuals that specialize in bearing. Wild animals do not die of old age they face starvation, diseases, or the effect of predators catching up with them. When the population becomes big, some individuals may fail to secure territories and eventually fail to breed. The individuals that reduce their clutch size based on estimating population density can take advantage on the selfish individual pretending to rival a population. The author states that individual parents that practice family planning tend to optimize the birth rates instead of restricting them for public good. Parents attempt to maximize the number of surviving children to ensure they reach adulthood. In the “Battle of the Generations” Parental Investment is the investment that a parent will apply to an individual offspring to increase the chance of survival. Altruism investment stresses on the importance of parentage. The Medawar theory of ageing states that women in their natural state are less efficient to bring up children, as they get older. Conditions vary from one species to another as one tries to focus on the results of Darwinian games. If one considers the closeness of genetic relatedness to assume a monogamous mating system between a mother and daughter, a mother gains everything while the daughter cannot resist the mother’s manipulation. Dawkins selfish genes increase in frequency since they have effects on the bodies adding to a struggle for existence. Selfish DNA can increase in frequency for precise opposite reason since it has no effect on the bodies. Genes have yellow and black stripes increase in frequency since the color pattern stimulates the brains of other animals. A gene tends to perpetuate itself even when it has no effect on the phenotype. Selfish genes cannot have effects on the phenotype while they confine themselves to the selfish DNA. Dawkins (144) “Battle of the Sexes” depicts that all mates engage in a non-zero sum game where they tend to increase their winnings when they cooperate instead of having one loss and one loss. The assumption is that all mates cooperate with each other. The author cites that it is misleading to stress on the disparity between sperm and egg based on sex roles. The author assumes only two sexes that mate with each other. The minimal assumption state that two sexes that specialize in opposite and complementary techniques will diverge in a positive way. Erection depends on blood pressure. Erection failure is a sensitive early warning of ill health. Clinicians do not use an erection test in routine health check-ups, they prefer patients to stick their tongues out.. Erection failure is an early warning of diabetes and certain neurological diseases. People with erection failure have psychological factors such as anxiety, loss of confidence, anxiety, depression, and stress. Different authors claim that everyone should Dowkins book since it describes the theory of evolution using unencumbered style. The book succeeds to depict the theme of revolutionary thought. The author uses a modest assessment to disarm critics in the subject. Dowkins explains helical molecules that we all know well. The author explains the philosophical and practical importance of human life. The author uses intrigue in the depiction of animal examples to ensure the reader remains attentive. Replicators and primeval soup multiply as they compete for substrates. That leads them to fight each other as replicators try to evade physical hardships in the environment. The preservation of ancient replicators is the rationale for individual existence replicator can survive when it has own intrinsic properties. The feedback mechanism will affect the success of a replicator to copy itself. The success of replicator in the world depends on the pre-existing conditions. Mutually beneficial replicators can dominate the presence of others. The evolution of life on earth gangs up mutually combatable replicators to create discrete vehicles and many celled bodies. Vehicles that evolve a bottleneck lifecycle to became discrete and vehicle-like. The packaging of living material into a discrete vehicle is a salient and dominant feature in life. The replicators called genes are part of machinery used by individual organisms. It requires a deliberate mental effort to turn biology in the right way as well as the history of the replicators. The phenotypic effects of a gene are bound in an individual body to manipulate objects of the outside world. A little imagination helps one to focus on the outside world while one sits at the centre of radiating web to extend phenotypic power. The long reach of a gene does not know any obvious boundaries. Replicators appear in huge colonies while some appear freely on the sea. The only entity that exists for life to arise is an immortal replicator. Works Cited Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. New ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989. Print. Eldredge, Niles. Why We Do It: Rethinking Sex and the Selfish Gene. New York: Norton, 2004. Print. Midgley, Mary. The Solitary Self: Darwin and the Selfish Gene. Durham, England: Acumen, 2010. Print. Read More