The Selfish Gene

by Richard Dawkins

‘The rabbit runs faster than the fox, because the rabbit is running for his life while the fox is only running for his dinner.’

Scientists, unlike politicians, can take pleasure in being wrong. A politician who changes his mind is accused of ‘flip-flopping’. Tony Blair boasted that he had ‘not got a reverse gear’. Scientists on the whole prefer to see their ideas vindicated, but an occasional reversal gains respect, especially when graciously acknowledged.