It happens to be that phase of my life when this little thing called ‘mind’ has been constantly searching for reasons and answers to almost everything around! In the quest for these answers, I have continuously been fooled by many things – be it randomness, be it luck, be it the Nash Equilibrium, be it the Laws of attraction or be it simply, a gene!
I lately concluded reading 'The Selfish Gene', by Richard Dawkins, which in many ways cleared the junk out of my brain! The skill of Dawkins, as a writer, is that he has managed to convey the role that genes have had in our (and all life's) evolution. We know that genes determine the color of our eyes, our bodily features, certain physical traits and our susceptibility to certain diseases. However, what Dawkins shows is rather more fundamental and remarkable than that!
As a man of extreme intellect and analytical mastery, his logic throughout the book is very clear, vivid and easy to follow. All of us know how natural selection (i.e survival of the fittest) has played a role in the way species have evolved. It has previously been accepted that natural selection happens at the individual level or according to many, at the Group Level. However completely diametric to this, Dawkins proposes that natural selection (and evolution) happens at the level of the gene, thereby flourishing the 'Gene-centered view of evolution' or 'gene selection theory', and consequently surpassing the 'Organism-centered view of evolution'.
Dawkins even term 'Organisms' as 'Vehicles' or 'Survival Machines' of the genes. From the gene's point of view, evolutionary success ultimately depends on leaving behind the maximum number of copies of itself in the population. Since close relatives of an organism share some identical genes, a gene can also increase its evolutionary success by promoting the reproduction and survival of these related or otherwise similar individuals. Hence "selfish actions" of the gene are the "unselfish actions" of the organisms.
The best part of the book for me was when Dawkins highlights how and why Nice guys always Finish First? His exemplary view on the 'Prisoner’s dilemma' combined with the Tit-for-tat strategy, and how being nice, forgiving, and not envious help in winning in gross situations where nasty strategies fail completely. Moreover, he even admits that 'Tit-for-tat Strategy' is still not the 'Evolutionary Stable Strategy(ESS)', which according to Dawkins is a strategy that does well against copies of itself. The rationale for this is as follows. A successful strategy is one that dominates the population. Therefore it will tend to encounter copies of itself. Therefore it won't stay successful unless it does well against copies of itself.
"The Selfish Gene" did change my way of thinking and acting, apart from answering many weird questions which my mind was burdened with. I can now look out at a crowd of people and imagine all of the trillions of little genes going about in these lumbering robots searching for ways to survive and replicate themselves. If life is a game, then this book definitely gives us a better understanding of that game and even gives us some potential strategies to help us and our genes excel in that game.
I lately concluded reading 'The Selfish Gene', by Richard Dawkins, which in many ways cleared the junk out of my brain! The skill of Dawkins, as a writer, is that he has managed to convey the role that genes have had in our (and all life's) evolution. We know that genes determine the color of our eyes, our bodily features, certain physical traits and our susceptibility to certain diseases. However, what Dawkins shows is rather more fundamental and remarkable than that!
As a man of extreme intellect and analytical mastery, his logic throughout the book is very clear, vivid and easy to follow. All of us know how natural selection (i.e survival of the fittest) has played a role in the way species have evolved. It has previously been accepted that natural selection happens at the individual level or according to many, at the Group Level. However completely diametric to this, Dawkins proposes that natural selection (and evolution) happens at the level of the gene, thereby flourishing the 'Gene-centered view of evolution' or 'gene selection theory', and consequently surpassing the 'Organism-centered view of evolution'.
Dawkins even term 'Organisms' as 'Vehicles' or 'Survival Machines' of the genes. From the gene's point of view, evolutionary success ultimately depends on leaving behind the maximum number of copies of itself in the population. Since close relatives of an organism share some identical genes, a gene can also increase its evolutionary success by promoting the reproduction and survival of these related or otherwise similar individuals. Hence "selfish actions" of the gene are the "unselfish actions" of the organisms.
The best part of the book for me was when Dawkins highlights how and why Nice guys always Finish First? His exemplary view on the 'Prisoner’s dilemma' combined with the Tit-for-tat strategy, and how being nice, forgiving, and not envious help in winning in gross situations where nasty strategies fail completely. Moreover, he even admits that 'Tit-for-tat Strategy' is still not the 'Evolutionary Stable Strategy(ESS)', which according to Dawkins is a strategy that does well against copies of itself. The rationale for this is as follows. A successful strategy is one that dominates the population. Therefore it will tend to encounter copies of itself. Therefore it won't stay successful unless it does well against copies of itself.
"The Selfish Gene" did change my way of thinking and acting, apart from answering many weird questions which my mind was burdened with. I can now look out at a crowd of people and imagine all of the trillions of little genes going about in these lumbering robots searching for ways to survive and replicate themselves. If life is a game, then this book definitely gives us a better understanding of that game and even gives us some potential strategies to help us and our genes excel in that game.
