Students Last Name 1 Illustrate the Importance of Selfish Genes In his book called Origin of Species, Charles Darwin

states that evolution came as a result of natural selection that guaranteed the survival of the fittest organisms (1995). According to this statement, the entire world has to be a very ruthless place, since every organism is trying to survive being in constant competition with each other for food, sexual partners and territory. It concerns people as well, because we are the last and the most developed segment of the evolutional trail (in terms of our intellectual development), but we are still animals in terms of our physical bodies. However, both in the world of animals and the world of people, we observe altruistic actions. If Darwins theory is true, it is not clear why we or animals can be selfsacrificing. Even the most cold-blooded predators are kind to their children. Even the worst criminal normally loves his parents and children. In the world of people, a person can risk his/her life for a total stranger. The theory of selfish genes gives a good explanation to such phenomena. The gene is the unit of heredity. The entire collection of genes possessed by an organism is called the genome (The Selfish Gene?). In their study report, Gregory D. D. Hurst and John H.Werren (2001) explain the role of selfish genes in the evolution of eukaryotic organisms. Also, John H. Werren (2011) presents his study of selfish genetic elements and their role in evolution. However, what are selfish genes?

The Selfish Gene Theory The theory of selfish genes was created by the most eminent evolutionary thinker of this day and age named Richard Dawkins (Beautiful Minds, 2012). In 1976, Dawkins wrote a book called The Selfish Gene, which made him a name in science. The central idea of his theory is that the evolution went through the survival of the genes, not the bodies of organisms. As stated

Students Last Name 2 by Dawkins in his book, natural selection works on the gene level, so-called selfish genes of an organism replicate and survive in its offspring and then in the offspring of the offspring, thus genes are immortal, while bodies are mortal, genes only use organisms physical bodies to survive; he says that the fittest genes, not organisms, survive in the process of natural selection (Dawkins, 2006). The evolutionary scientist believes that our bodies are only machines that help genes to move from one generation to another (Beautiful Minds, 2012). Genes are really selfish, since they force an organism to reproduce in order to preserve themselves. Altruism, always seen as a far and even opposite notion from the idea of survival of the fittest, now came hand in hand with the selfish genes and the survival of the fittest organisms. It often turns out on closer inspection that acts of apparent altruism are really selfishness in disguise (Dawkins, 2006, 4). Examples of Altruism Enforced by the Selfishness of Genes There are many examples of altruism that confirm the theory of selfish genes (Selfish Gene Theory 2009), e.g. animals die for their children (protecting them or feeding them), which are acts of pure altruism, completely self-sacrificing and go against the instinct of survival, because they really want to preserve their genes in their offspring. These altruistic acts are egoistic in their core, for the reason that they help organisms to pass on their genes to the next generations; organisms die, but their genes live on in their children. Once again Dawkins theory of selfish genes is confirmed in the aforementioned altruistic acts, because genes make organisms to sacrifice themselves for their children to guarantee their transmission to future generations, and so they are the selfish survivors. Consequently, the importance of selfish genes is obvious in such satiations. During the Second World War there were Dutch and German Aryans who, at enormous risk to themselves, did their best to protect Jewsacting on no other

Students Last Name 3 motive, it would appear, than pure altruism (Furbank, 2008). It was because they saw them as other members of mankind who shared common genes with them. Other examples of altruistic acts enforced by the selfishness of genes are the following: a bird protects its nest from a predator risking its life; a bee stinging honey thieves gives its own life, since vital organs are torn our together with a sting and a bee dies as a result of such an altruistic act, but the population of bees is preserved; or young men are expected to die as individuals for the greater glory of their country as a whole. Moreover, they are encouraged to kill other individuals about whom nothing is known except that they belong to a different nation (Dawkins, 2006, 4). In these examples, all organisms that risk or sacrifice their lives try to preserve the genes of their children, their population or their nation, because they belong to the same gene pool. Such examples of altruism are in point of fact selfish attempts to preserve their genes or the genes that define their species. Any gene that behaves in such a way as to increase its own survival chances in the gene pool at the expense of its alleles will, by definition, tautologously, tend to survive. The gene is the basic unit of selfishness (Haselhurst & Howie). The theory of selfish genes successfully explains the social behavior of animals (Rhoads, 2009). The Theory Criticized In his lecture on Dawkins book, Ian Johnston criticizes Dawkins antireligious ideas where there is no place for moral principles put into words by God, and he says: Im tempted to read his new concept as a ME-ME (1997). Meme can be understood as the cultural equivalent of a gene (Rhoads, 2009). According to Richard Dawkins, human beings are only containers for the so-called selfish genes and there is no other purpose of their existence.

Students Last Name 4 Accordingly, Dawkins theory played a significant role in understanding many aspects, such as the nature of evolutionary process, the role of religion in society, the role of physical bodies in evolution and the basic unit of evolution (The Selfish Gene, 2012).

Dawkins Theory Misunderstood In the 1980s, the world of capitalism became captivated by the book The Selfish Gene (Dawkins, 2006). The reason for their keen interest in the book was simple: people liked the idea of egoism and that the book justified their self-centered society and greedy and selfish ways of life. However, it was not the idea that Dawkins put in his theory of selfish gene. He simply wanted people to look at the evolutionary process from a completely new perspective. It was only a beautiful metaphor to call genes selfish (Rhoads, 2009), but people liked the word selfish and did not realized Dawkins real ideas behind the words. Although he [Dawkins] says that genes have no foresight and they do not plan ahead Dawkins imbues genes with a consciousness and a selfish identity. They strive to replicate themselves, as if they are consciously planning how best this could be achieved (The Selfish Gene?). When Dawkins wrote the book The Selfish Gene in the 1970s, there were no clear understanding of what genes were made of and what they were exactly, but Dawkins ignored those uncertainties and expanded his mind to the unbelievable width. He explained how genes survived and how they controlled their survival machines, which he called bodies of animals and humans (Radford, 2012). The thing is that peoples and animals lives are short, but their genes live millions of years due to the fact that they are selfish and strive to be transmitted from generation to generation (Radford, 2012).

Students Last Name 5 How to oppose the Selfishness of Genes In the end of his book, Dawkins wrote a very optimistic phrase, which sheds a light on the future of every single individual of human society, which cannot be used by animals, because they have no such a brain which people have: We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth and, if necessary, the selfish memes of our indoctrination. We can even discuss ways of deliberately cultivating and nurturing pure, disinterested altruism something that has no place in nature, something that has never existed before in the whole history of the world. We are built as gene machines and cultured as meme machines, but we have the power to turn against our creators. We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators (2006, 200-201). In the above-mentioned citation, Dawkins means that people have their free will and the ability to think in order to decide which pattern of behavior to choose. Unlike animals, our altruism can be enforced not only by our selfish genes that guarantee the survival of our lives, families and races, but it can be empowered by our minds that can guarantee the survival of moral values and philosophies of the entire world.

Students Last Name 6 References Hurst, Gregory D. D. & Werren, John H., August, 2001. The role of selfish genetic elements in eukaryotic evolution. Nature Reviews 2:597-606. [Online] Available at: <http://www.rochester.edu/College/BIO/labs/WerrenLab/My%20Papers/2001_Hurst&Werren.p df> [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. Werren, John H., April 13, 2011. Selsh genetic elements, genetic conict, and evolutionary innovation. [Online] Available at: <http://www.pnas.org/content/108/suppl.2/10863.full.pdf> [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. Dawkins, Richard, 2006. The Selfish Gene. Great Britain: Oxford University Press. Radford, Tim, 31 August 2012. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins book review. [Online] Available at: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/aug/31/the-selfish-gene-richarddawkins-review> [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. The Selfish Gene? [Online] Available at: <http://www.marxist.com/scienceold/selfishgene.html> [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. Rhoads, Dan, 11 February, 2009. Selfish Genes and Gene-Centered Evolution. [Online] Available at: <http://bitesizebio.com/articles/selfish-genes-and-gene-centered-evolution/> [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. The Selfish Gene. (Updated 25 Feb. 2012) [Online] Available at: <http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f03/web2/mhope.html > [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. Johnston, Ian, 27 March, 1997. Lecture on Dawkins, The Selfish Gene. (Updated Jan. 2005.) [Online] Available at: < http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/introser/dawkins.htm > [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012].

Students Last Name 7 Haselhurst, Geoff & Howie, Karene. Richard Dawkins: Discussion of Quotes by Evolutionary Scientist Richard Dawkins. [Online] Available at: <http://www.spaceandmotion.com/evolutionist-richard-dawkins.htm> [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. Selfish Gene Theory, 2002. [Online] Available at: <http://bovination.com/cbs/selfishGeneTheory.php > [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. Furbank, P. N., 2008. Altruism, Selfishness, and Genes. [Online] Available at: <http://www.threepennyreview.com/samples/furbank_su08.html> [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. Beautiful Minds: Professor Richard Dawkins, 2012. [Online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kVaM8SJlSg> [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012]. Darwin, Charles, 1995. The Origin of Species. Gramercy Books: New York. Selfish Gene Theory, The, 17 August 2009. [Online] Available at: <http://harunyahya.com/en/works/16631/selfish-gene-theory-the> [Accessed 20 Sep. 2012].