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The Selfish Gene
Traditional understanding of evolution has always been from the point of view of whole organisms. Survival of the Fittest and Natural Selection have all been perceived as being dictated by the species’ drive to survive. Dawkins turns this on its head. In The Selfish Gene, he says it is the genes that drive evolution, not the species. Each gene is motivated to replicate and pass on its own copies as long as possible. So, the fundamental competition for survival is between genes. In this race, the successful genes design the complex organism that it forms a part of. The organism's own survival is secondary. It is a vehicle to pass on its inclusive genes. The author does not use the word selfish in a sentient sense, to imply that the genes are consciously selfish. What the term in this context means is that the individual genes are automatically programmed to replicate and pass on their own characteristics, without any drive to cooperate with other individual genes. At the organism level, the cooperation and altruism among members of the same species also makes sense in this context. They share the same genetic code. So, if they care for other individuals of their species and even give up their life defending other members like their own offspring, they are just doing it to protect their own genetic composition. The gene-centric view of evolution also implies that gene survival can sometimes come at the expense of individuals of a species. For instance, in some spider species, the males are eaten by the females. Yet, the drive to pass on its genes overrides the male’s drive for individual survival. The Selfish Gene explains evolution as being driven by the competition to survive among the most basic units of life, the genes. It is a purely individualistic view rather than the collective view of the organism which is composed of countless genes coming together.
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River Out Of Eden
The river of Dawkins's title is a river of DNA, flowing through time from the beginning of life on earth to the present and onwards. Dawkins explains that DNA must be thought of as the most sophisticated information system imaginable - 'Life is just bytes and bytes of information,' he writes. Using this perspective, he describes the mechanisms by which evolution has taken place, gradually but inexorably, over a period of three thousand million years. It is the story of how evolution happens, rather than a narrative of what has actually happened in evolution. He discusses current views on the process of human evolution, including the idea that we all trace back to a comparatively recent African 'Eve' and speculates that the 'information explosion' that was unleashed on Earth when DNA came into being has almost certainly happened in other places in the universe.
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The God Delusion
Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, sets out to pull down all the principles that organized religion is based on, arguing against the existence of a personal god who is interested in the lives of each creature in the universe, i.e. a being who can be worshipped. The book sets forth the argument that the brilliant variety and complexities of life can be explained by the theory of natural selection and evolution rather than by some grand design by an omniscient and all-powerful being. The God Delusion uses the idea of memes to explain the prevalence of belief in God across all cultural, racial, and geographical divisions. A meme is an idea, or behavior that spreads within a culture. It is viewed as a cultural analogy of a gene - something that replicates itself, mutates, and is passed on. Dawkins asserts that these memes of religious ideas spread across different societies like viruses because of the human mind’s susceptibility to the idea of a God. The book also delves into the issue of morality. It states that humanity does not need religion to instill moral values. According to the author, morality is the result of altruistic genes. The author asserts that most people still wouldn’t commit murder or other crimes if the existence of God were to be completely disproved. The God Delusion does not just put forward a defense of atheism, but states that religion is the cause of the many evils in society, and that religion fosters fanaticism and narrow-mindedness. The author takes a strong stance against teaching religious ideas in schools. Dawkins asserts that he does not intend to provide proof against the existence of God. The book puts forward an argument that a universe without God is better than a universe with an all-powerful God. About Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and an author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford. The publication of his first book, The Selfish Gene, which introduced the term meme, made him a popular personality. Dawkins’ other books include The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach Of The Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, River Out of Eden, and The Selfish Gene. Dawkins was born in 1941 in Nairobi, Kenya. He is well known for his atheistic views and his criticism of creationist ideas and the idea of intelligent design that presumes the existence of an intelligent being behind the design.