The selfish gene

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The Selfish Gene (English original title: The Selfish Gene ) is a 1976 published popular science book on evolutionary biology by Richard Dawkins , a British biologist . The same designation is used for his novel view of genes as objects of selection presented in this work .

Derivation

Dawkins starts from the idea that in evolutionary research species were viewed as a unit of selection for a time ( species conservation ). In older documentaries it is often said: Animals “sacrifice themselves for the good of the species”. In the meantime, however, the general tendency is more towards placing individual individuals and their competition for resources in the foreground. Dawkins takes this approach radically further: Why shouldn't the gene segments of individual chromosomes themselves “ compete” with the same gene segments of other chromosomes? Because at least living beings that reproduce sexually cannot be passed on to the next generation as whole individuals, but only a more or less arbitrary selection of their genes. In this respect, there is competition between the genes for their distribution in the next generation, at the respective positions in the chromosome set.

Development of life

Dawkins attributes the entire development of life to the selection of genes that could each make the most copies of themselves. In the course of evolution, these more and more refined “survival machines” have been created in the form of plant or animal (also human) bodies. Genes that are not alleles and are therefore not in direct competition can certainly also cooperate. Only then are the complex interactions in today's living beings even possible.

Relatives selection

According to Dawkins, altruistic (selfless) behavior of individuals can also be explained by the egoism of genes (→ relative selection ). Helping relatives is a selfless act, because the individual individual usually has no advantages at all. For the gene that determines the disposition to help relatives, however, it can be quite beneficial under certain conditions to save the other individual. Because among the closest relatives (parents, children, siblings) the chance that the other carries the same gene is 50 percent. So if the danger or harm to the helper is less than half the gain to the recipient, this way the gene will spread more widely. Because on average, more copies of the gene will then be obtained over the generations.

The easiest way to understand this is perhaps the extreme example when someone sacrifices his life for that of relatives: If someone dies but two of his siblings survive for it, it makes no difference to their genes; if he saves three of his siblings, that is on average a gain for their genes. John Burdon Sanderson Haldane put this as a joke: Would I sacrifice my life to save my brother's life? No, but I would to save two brothers or eight cousins. You only have 12.5 percent of the genes in common with a cousin.

Memes

Dawkins rejects in his work a genetic explanation for the cultural evolution in humans. Nevertheless, he considers a kind of (Darwinian) evolution within culture to be possible. However, this must be based on a different replicator , which can be passed on to future generations instead of a gene and which varies through gradual, small changes. As a correspondence to his view of the gene, Dawkins introduces the idea of ​​the meme in his book : a kind of thought module that can be passed on largely unchanged, but can also mutate like genes and through its "catchiness", its storage capacity in the brain, under Selection is available. This includes Dawkins ideas, melodies, theories and phrases as well as scientific theories. Basically, any thought can be broken down into memes.

Based on the fact that genes are passed on via chromosomes and that this can lead to couplings, there are, according to Dawkins, memes that are passed on together. Examples of these so-called “ memplexes ” (Dawkins himself speaks only of “meme complexes” in The egoistic gene) would be religions and political attitudes.

reception

The British researcher Susan Blackmore and the American philosopher Daniel Denett further developed Dawkins' membrane concept on memetics , which now forms a sub-area of ​​evolutionary biology with numerous references to psychology, sociology and cultural studies. The interdisciplinary Journal of Memetics was published from 1997 to 2005 .

In the monograph The revolutionary phenotype, the French-Canadian biologist Jean-François Gariépy criticizes Blackmore and Denett's position: “Memetics is wrong, and Richard Dawkins was right in remaining suspicious of his own idea. As fool replicators, memes cannot challenge the viability of DNA ". The future of mankind is not decided by the competition of memes, but by whether mankind allows extensive genetic modifications, which could trigger a "phenotypic revolution" of the human genome.

Awards

  • In April 2016, The Guardian compiled a list of the 100 best non-fiction books. The Selfish Gene - The Selfish Gene - was set to place 10th
  • On July 19, 2017 was The Selfish Gene - The Selfish Gene by the Royal Society chosen all time for inspiring scientific work. The book is described as a "masterpiece" and Dawkins as an "excellent communicator".

expenditure

See also

Rejection of the gene-centric view of Dawkins:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Index to all JoM-EMIT Issues. In: Journal of Memetics. Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission. Retrieved on August 19, 2020 (English).
  2. ^ Jean-François Gariépy: The Revolutionary Phenotype: The amazing story of how life begins and how it ends . Élora Éditions, 2018, ISBN 978-1-72986-156-1 , p. 27-28 .
  3. ^ Robert McCrum: The 100 best nonfiction books: No 10 - The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins . In: The Guardian , April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016. 
  4. ↑ The Selfish Gene tops Royal Society poll to reveal the nation's most inspiring science books | Royal Society. Retrieved July 29, 2020 (UK English).