This week I finished reading "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins. And here are a few thoughts/questions I have in my mind. I will write them down with numbers so you can choose to respond or share your opinion on it. Appreciate it.
One thing we should avoid is a personal attack on Richard Dawkins. Not no place for hate here. Please.
1) Is there a compelling counter-argument against the whole idea of "The Selfish Gene"? Or alternate theory for this whole evolution saga?
2) What you think personally after reading this book? If you wrote a blog or something, please share a link.
3) How do you explain "Dying for the country" in terms of The Selfish Gene?
4) Is arranged marriage another kind of "smart" survival strategy by "bad" genes?
5) So Covid-19 is just another mutant gene that found a way to replicate without eggs/sperm and decide to
first, kill "smart ass" replicant a.k.a genes inside a human to level up the field?
6) What happens we found out a way to "edit" genes using genetic engineering in future? What happens to evolution then?
We create "Anti-virus" for humans so these mutant genes cannot harm us?
7) I liked the book. Except for the idea "meme". I still think replicators are still physical entity and not thoughts.
I don't know why Mr Dawkins went that far to extend it till "meme". Maybe his selfish gene. But I think consciousness is not the final step in evolution. I think there is more to come in future - something better than consciousness.
8) If we accept the whole "Selfish gene" theory, does it make everything more depressing in life? What is the point of all this?
I mean we just vehicles for stupid genes trying to make copies?
Practically every explanation linking some human behavior to genetics is a fable, devoid of serious evidence, and usually confirming somebody's cultural bias. For example, arranged marriage is far too recent a phenomenon to have a significant genetic basis.
"The Selfish Gene" is a very important book with a lot of interesting ideas, but like a lot of pop science it gives people a misleading idea of just how much they understand about a field. Evolutionary psychology is an incredibly primitive field at best, and at worst acts more like a pseudoscience (especially as practiced by non-scientists). Be incredibly suspicious about extrapolating any of it to human behavior.