But if you think about it, on a larger scale, we, the individuals, exist for so little. As if our thoughts and ambitions don’t matter. In the book, our bodies are described as throwaway survival machines where they simply exist to transport our genes forward. The cells circling around your blood know exactly what they have to do during the time they occupy the current corpse – to survive and replicate. You don’t know? Don’t worry, your body is not as confused as you are. Lesson #1: The Main Goal of the Body is To Propagate Copies of The Genes Lesson #5: Life is Riddled With Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma Games.Lesson #4: Similar to Genes, Ideas Also Endure Time And Move Forward.Lesson #3: Navigating in The World is Influenced by Our Pre-Programmed Knowledge.Lesson #2: We Care and Help Others To Ensure Our Own Survival.Lesson #1: The Main Goal of the Body is To Propagate Copies of The Genes.Thus, the likelihood of our genetic material moving forward multiplies. By helping others, we increase our chances of receiving help from them in the future. Collaborating and helping is promoted by our internal programmers to ensure that our genes will be passed on to future generations. Yet again, the main motive behind an act of kindness is never 100% genuine. Though the book is called The Selfish Gene, the text unfolds something else – that actually altruism should be (and in most cases is) the driving behavior of all living creatures. Genes are called selfish for a simple reason – they manipulate our behavior to make sure they will survive. Richard Dawkins writes that genes are internal dictators who set the policy of our bodies. In The Selfish Gene, the author looks at life through the eyes of our genes.

Abstract:Īstonishing work that explains in plain language how evolution works and how our bodies are nothing else than mere vessels transporting our genes forward. Written by book fanatic and online librarian Ivaylo Durmonski. Covering the key ideas and proposing practical ways for achieving what’s mentioned in the text. This is a comprehensive summary of the book The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.

Richard dawkins book the selfish gene