-Caveat Lector-
On Richard Dawkins Author of 'The Selfish Gene' and a host of other books on
evolution
Here are a few samples of his most famous meme, the selfish gene.
'We are survival machines-robust vehicles blindly programmed to preserve
the selfish molecules known as genes.' (p. v) '. . . a human society based
simply on the gene's law of universal ruthless selfishness would be a very
nasty society in which to live' (p. 3)
'What I have now done is to define the gene in such a way that I cannot
really help being right that it is selfish'. (p. 32) [Aside: Note--truth
by definition!]
From The Selfish Gene
"What are all of us but self-reproducing robots?" he asked. "We have been
put together by our genes and what we do is roam the world looking for a
way to sustain ourselves and ultimately produce another robot - a child."
Report of a Dawkins lecture, by Nigel Hawkes, Times, 26/4/96
The Caton-Dawkins colloquy, evolution conference, 1989
[Dawkins had opened his remarks by responding to criticisms of the selfish
gene, stating that he had "clearly" used the expression "as a metaphor."]
Caton: You say that the selfish gene is only a metaphor. In that case, I
wonder whether you would agree that it might also be called the altruistic
gene. For while the gene makes another self, that self is other than
itself. It's like the glass of water which you might call half empty or
half full.
Dawkins: No I wouldn't agree. The trick here for saying that the
replicated gene is different from the replictor is in confounding the
replicator with the vehicle. Once you recognize that the replicated gene
is, as a replicator in turn, identical to the initial replicator, it
follows that the gene is clearly selfish.
Caton: Well, if the gene is "clearly selfish," the expression isn't a
metaphor after all?
Dawkins: I say that the selfish gene is a metaphor to defend myself, but
it's really selfish.
Audience applauds this open admission of duplicity in scientific
communication.
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