Transcript of THE SELFISH GENE Chapter 1: Why Are People? (by Richard Dawkins) | Animated Summary

The Selfish Gene Chapter One by Richard Dawkins. The Selfish Gene is an exploration into the consequences of the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin, especially the biology of selfishness and altruism. The theory of evolution is important to our social lives because it extends to love, hate, fighting and cooperation, giving and stealing, and greed and generosity. So Dawkins argues that if we were told a man lived a long prosperous life in the world of a Chicago gangster, we could make assumptions about the sort of man he was. We could expect he would have toughness, quick trigger fingers, and the ability to attract loyal friends. Similarly, Dawkins central argument is that we are machines created by our genes and therefore we can make certain assumptions about the quality of our genes. Our genes have survived in a highly competitive world and therefore a successful gene which strongly possess the attributes of ruthless selfishness. This gene selfishness has implications in selfish behavior at the individual level, although there are special circumstances where genes may achieve its selfish goals in limited forms of altruism. Dawkins wants to remind us that concepts of universal love and welfare of the species are exceptions within evolution. He warns that the book is not advocating a morality based on evolution. On the contrary, he believes that a human society based simply on ruthless selfishness would be a very unpleasant society to live in. Dawkins advocates that we must acknowledge and understand our true nature so we can overcome them through educating ourselves in generosity and altruism. Dawkins reminds us there are three things before delving into this book. Firstly, a common misunderstanding about genes and genetically inherited traits is that there are fixed and cannot be changed, and that our behavior is entirely determined by them. Human beings are unique in relation to other species because our behaviors can be dominated and influenced by culture. This is the heart of the nature versus nurture debate and in response to this, his second reminder is that the book is not advocating a position in the nature versus nurture controversy. Thirdly, Dawkins reminds us he's not drawing conclusions about the behavior of human beings through the study of other species. For example, the observation that baboons act selfishly must mean that humans act selfishly. Instead, his starting points is attempting to study the way natural selection works in order to argue that anything that evolved by natural selection, for example, baboons humans and all other living creatures, should be selfish. In talking about selfishness in altruism these terms are behavioral not subjective. This means Dawkins is not concerned about conscious selfish motives. We are just looking at the effects of an act that lowers or raises survival prospects or welfare define us chances of survival. Even small and trivial influences and survival probabilities can have a major impact on evolution given the enormous length of time, for example, thousands to millions of years. When we talk of altruism, we are talking about an act that apparently makes the altruists more likely to die and the recipient more likely to survive. However apparent acts of altruism could really be selfishness in disguise. So examples of selfish behaviors are cannibalism exhibited by black-headed gulls that swallow each other's chicks, or the female praying mantis that bites off its mates head during copulation, or emperor penguins that push each other into the water for fear of being eaten by seals. It could also involve not sharing valued resources like food, territory, or sexual partners. Examples of altruistic behavior include the suicide of stinging worker bees against honey robbers or small birds that give off an alarm to warn the flock of an incoming hawk but puts itself in danger of the hawk's attention. One of the most common acts of altruism is displayed by mothers towards their children by nesting, feeding, and taking risks to protect them. An example is the distraction display, where a mother bird feigns injury by limping away from the nest and holding out one wing to pretend it was broken. A predator such as a fox would be lured away from the nest containing the chicks and then the parent bird gives up the pretense and leaps into the air when a fox tries to bite it. Dawkins dismisses misconceptions of altruism in biology that living creatures have evolved to do good things for the species or the group. The belief is common because we see it in reproduction and parental care towards the young. Theories of group selection state that individual members prepare to sacrifice themselves for the welfare of the group means that the world will be more populated by groups composed of self-sacrificing individuals. These group selection theories have been popularized by VC Wynne Edwards and Robert Ardrey, among others. The opposing theory of group selection is individual selection, or gene selection, which states that although there are altruists, there will likely be dissenting minorities who refuse to make sacrifices. The dissenter would exploit the altruism of the rest and are more likely to survive and have children who will inherit selfish traits. After few generations the altruists would be overrun by the selfish individuals. Of course, Dawkins acknowledges that this does not preclude the fact that groups die out and if individuals had restrained their selfish greed, it would have prevented the destruction of the whole group. However, group extinction is a slow process and the selfish individual would still prosper in the short term at their expense of the altruists. Group selection theory may be appealing based on moral and political ideas, but then there are problems such as at what level of the group should we consider. Should lions and antelopes refrain from killing each other because they are both mammals. Dawkin argues that the best way to look at evolution is to start at the level of the genes and its self-interest.