The Selfish Gene

Questions About The Selfish Gene

by Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (6)

This book is about opinion on how genes work by Dawkins right? It's not true and it's not proven he is just using theory ?
John Words like "it's not true" and "just theory" belie a deep misunderstanding of what science is. I assume you mean "not proven" and "not law" - but even…moreWords like "it's not true" and "just theory" belie a deep misunderstanding of what science is. I assume you mean "not proven" and "not law" - but even that misunderstands science. Almost nothing in science is "proven" - that's not how science works. Science is an iterative process. We have theories, and "theory" does not mean "guesswork" - it means "the best understanding that we currently have of the nature of reality." It's a "theory" because in science there's always the possibility of disproving a theory, but the wonderful thing is, a disproven theory teaches us even more about reality and nature by supplanting the theory with a better one.

At almost no point does science say "this is an absolute truth" because that is incredibly conceited - ANYONE that tells you they know an absolute truth is probably selling something. Science simply says "This is true as far as we can tell right now. But please, if you think differently, set up a rational, testable and repeatable way to prove this theory wrong. The science community welcomes your input if it follows these rules, because that's the way forward."

To date the core theories of this book have not been proven wrong, and are therefore considered to be true as far as we know right now.(less)
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Does this book contain any outdated information?
J_BlueFlower In short: No.

You may want to pick up a never edition, like for instance the 40th Anniversary Edition published in 2016. (ISBN 0198788606 https://www.g…moreIn short: No.

You may want to pick up a never edition, like for instance the 40th Anniversary Edition published in 2016. (ISBN 0198788606 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... )
He corrects tiny details of the original book. Like around page 173 he started that as far as we know only insects have evolved a division into bears and cares. In the end notes he then describes new finds of naked mole rats that lives in that way too.

The main concept of the selfish gene stands as close to proven science as you can get.(less)
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I really enjoyed this book and found the topic fascinating. I was wondering what people would recommend to read next?
Rigoberto Rico The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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would it benefit genes to create a vehicle which would last forever? instead of creating disposable vehicles like animals and plants? Is there a possibility to natural selection eventually leading our bodies to everlasting life by over coming our biological decay ???
Premkumar Bhaskal I think it would not benefit to have a vehicle which last forever. To adapt to changing environment and conditions, it would be necessary to go back t…moreI think it would not benefit to have a vehicle which last forever. To adapt to changing environment and conditions, it would be necessary to go back to drawing board. redesign the vehicle from scratch. checkout the last chapter of the book in details to understand this idea.(less)
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In this book Dawkins introduced the concept of 'meme'. I really liked the analogy with genes and and it seems to be a powerful way of describing the importance of the cultural aspect of human evolution. Are there any other books from Dawkins where he develops this concept of 'meme' in more detail?
Lucas You could try the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics.

Dawkins distanced himself from the field of study and didn't work out his ide…moreYou could try the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics.

Dawkins distanced himself from the field of study and didn't work out his ideas any further.(less)
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