On 5/30/07, ravi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
One way to try to add coherence to Dawkins' book is to see it thus:
the gene is both the unit of replication and encoding of traits
(phenotype) which in turn are subject to natural selection. Those
traits survive that are fittest for survival. They are coded and
replicated in genes and hence (the claim goes) a parsimonious
reduction of evolution can be obtained based on the gene: a hen
("chicken" in Americanese) is just a way for the egg to make another
egg.
One of the implications that Dawkins draws out is that the more genes
an individual shares with another, the more empathetic one is toward
the other. That proposition seems eminently falsifiable and likely
false.
BTW, at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070504114259.htm
there's an article about our "mirror neurons" which mirror social
events (and help to process them). As one of the researchers said,
"Babies don't become social, they're social at birth." It seems that
the mirror neurons are the "seat" of our social intuitions.
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your
own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
