The Selfish Gene

Dawkins and the Selfish Gene: A Summary In Dawkins in the Selfish Gene, Ed Sexton summarizes Richard Dawkins’ gene theory. He debunks misconceptions about theory: most assume it will be about selfish behavior in humans, but it is actually about evolution and a gene’s will to survive over others. He accurately explains the basic gene theory in simple terms that make Dawkins’ ideas clearer to readers. The original purpose of Dawkins was to examine the biology of selfishness and altruism, but he ended up developing a connection between natural selection and gene theory. He theorized that genes are “selfish” in the way that they will do anything to continue their characteristics; personifying them as if they could have human emotions. He redefines…

shaped by genetic factors. A person’s fondness for roller coasters can be attributed to genes passed along to him or her from a parent. The fears that humans indicate they have can be seen as genetically predisposed survival tactics. "We are survival machines," Richard Dawkins writes in The Selfish Gene, "robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes” (Dee, 2010). As behaviors are practiced by humans, who survive long enough to pass on their traits, certain…

Seldom does any ordinary citizen conceive the remarkableness of scientific breakthroughs, especially during the 1500's, yet it is this very public approval that determines the survival of new concepts. As stated by the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene, the meme of the scientists--- a non-physical and conceptual version of a gene--- "may live on, intact, long after [their] genes have dissolved in the common pool" (Dawkins 199). If the meme is capable of…

not care about what happens to himself, Rand’s execution of this trait is very unrealistic. Roark says “I don’t intend to build in order to serve or help anyone. I don’t intend to build in order to have clients. I intend to have clients in order to build.”(26) like he is not going to put any effort into what he wants and let what happens happen. Rand probably intended this to sound like some great self-righteous proclamation but it is simply unrealistic. Realistically if Roark was truly…

Victor Frankenstein’s solitary work leads to selfishness because he is solely responsible for his creation and would receive all the glory for his creation if it is successful. Selfishness is defined as an individual becoming consumed with the prospect of success that they neglect their social relationships. Unlike Frankenstein’s solitary work, Smith’s proposed division of labor promotes harmonious relationships between individuals because multiple people are working together to create something…

For this week’s lectures, we had three different readings. Two of which were from the book called “The Selfish Gene,” by Richards Dawkins; chapters six and ten. The other was chapter nine from “The Hadza: Hunter-Gatherers of Tanzania by Frank W. Marlowe. In chapter six from “The Selfish Gene,” they initially introduce the idea that organisms with similar genes want to help other organisms with similar genes that way those genes will have a better chance of survival. Dawkins’ argument is that…

This is refereed to as maximizing inclusive fitness. The advantage of this is that relations ships and costs/benefits can be mathematically modeled and the simple equation rB<C (r being a co-efficient of relatedness, B the benefit in reproductive terms to the receiver of the altruistic act and C the cost in reproductive terms to the giver) can be used to predict when kin level altruism may be expected to occur; essentially when the benefit to shared gene transmission of an altruistic act out…

Within the depths of Richard Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene, the author discusses the existence, or at least the idea of God, as a meme, important enough to last for thousands of years and spread across three separate religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Over the course of time, religions and supernatural deities have often come hand-in-hand, a sort of universal meme. In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins defines the meme as “a noun that conveys the ida of a unit of cultural transmission, or…

towards sociobiology. “Sociobiological theory states that genes provide the information that structures social behavior (Quadagno 1979, 100). Richard Dawkins proposes the concept of a “selfish gene” in his 1976 publication “The Selfish Gene.” Dawkins’ book examines genes and the evolutionary theory beyond Darwin’s theory. Darwin’s theory explains evolution through natural selection, while Dawson expands this paradigm from the point of view of genes and human behavior (Dawkins 2006, xix).…

sense of civilization) can be regarded as transmitted by nongenetic means, especially through imitation. The term meme was first proposed by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene and comes from an association between gene and mimesis. Dawkins also points to a close kinship with the French word same. Memes were presented by Dawkins as replicators, comparable in this respect to genes, but responsible for the evolution of certain animal behaviors and cultures. Dawkins's definition is a unit of…