The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins
Explore the provocative theory that we are merely sophisticated "survival machines" built to preserve the immortal instructions within our DNA. By shifting your perspective from the individual to the gene, you will unlock a deeper understanding of why altruism and competition exist, forever changing how you view the biological forces that shape human behavior.
Why are People?
Exploring the definition of altruism and selfishness in biological terms, establishing the gene as the unit of selection.
Defining Altruism and Egoism
The Fallacy of Group Selection
The Gene as the Unit of Selection
The Replicators
The origins of life from the perspective of the first self-copying molecules.
The Primordial Soup
Longevity, Fecundity, and Fidelity
The First Survival Machines
Immortal Coils
Understanding DNA architecture and the gene's persistence across generations.
The DNA Blueprint
Cistrons and Chromosomes
Genetic Immortality
The Gene Machine
How genes control behavior by proxy through the development of nervous systems.
The Programmer and the Computer
Simulation and Prediction
Signals and Deception
Aggression: Stability and the Selfish Machine
Using Game Theory to explain why animals don't always fight to the death.
The Cost of Conflict
Evolutionary Stable Strategy (ESS)
Hawks, Doves, and Bourgeois
Genesmanship
The mathematics of altruism toward relatives (Kin Selection).
The Coefficient of Relatedness
Hamilton's Rule
Kin Recognition and Errors
Family Planning
The conflict between individual reproductive interests and the survival of offspring.
The Population Paradox
Lack's Principle
The Strategy of Contraception
Battle of the Generations
The inherent conflict of interest between parents and their children.
The Investment Balance
The Weaning Conflict
The Dishonest Child
Battle of the Sexes
Evolutionary strategies of males and females and why their interests diverge.
The Fundamental Asymmetry
The Domestic Bliss Strategy
The He-Man Strategy
You Scratch My Back, I’ll Ride on Yours
The evolution of cooperation between non-relatives and across species.
Reciprocal Altruism
The Social Insect Mystery
Mutualism and Symbiosis
Memes: The New Replicators
Extending the concept of evolution to human culture and ideas.
The Concept of the Meme
Meme Selection Pressures
Rebels Against the Genes
Nice Guys Finish First
A deeper look at the Prisoner's Dilemma and the success of cooperative strategies.
The Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma
Tit-for-Tat and its Rivals
The Evolution of Trust
The Long Reach of the Gene
Expanding the gene's influence beyond the individual body to the environment and other organisms.
The Extended Phenotype
Parasites and Mind Control
The Central Theorem of the Selfish Gene
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Interactive Socratic dialogue, level by level