Chapter 12 of The Selfish Gene brings a very interesting theory on relationships between living things. This theory, which can be applied to almost every altruistic action towards another being, consists of two options for each participant (Cooperate and Defect) and four outcomes (CC, CD, DC, DD). This is the matrix chart for the "game":
As you can see, the four outcomes bring very different results for Player A. If Player A cooperates, A can win a moderate sum or lose a small sum; but if he defects, he can lose nothing or win a big sum. According to logic, Player A should defect: it gives him or her the best results. But should Player A step over Player B in case B chooses Cooperate and cause Player B to lose points, money or effort (whatever the case is)? In that case, What should Player A chose? This game can be applied in many situations in real life and the results can be extrapolated to see the severity of the players' actions; the best example is The Prisoner's Dilemma, created by Albert W. Tucker.
This situation consists of two people. They are both suspected of collaborating in a crime and sit in different rooms to be interrogated; both obviously want to lessen their time in jail. The key to understanding this situation is that they can't speak to each other while this is happening and couldn't speak beforehand, either. The police agents invite both to DEFECT their partner by giving in evidence against the other and lessening their time in jail. If one defects and the other doesn't say anything about the story imposed on him (COOPERATE), the one who cooperated will get a big jail sentence, while the other will have his sentence shortened or get out unharmed. If they both cooperate, or stay silent, they both will get a moderate sentence. And if they both defect, they are both convicted of the crime but get a somewhat reduced sentence for giving in evidence.
This gets me to my point. What should we do in this case? Can we trust the other participant and cooperate for an equal gain, but risk the defection of the other? Or should we betray others in search of a big reward? I guess this is a very solid theory not only on human relations, but also of other living things' relationships. By playing this game in class, I could see that most people who were betrayed once, never fell into the trap of cooperating another time. The exception was Camilo, who after being betrayed by Connor, kept on cooperating even after Connor had chosen defect.
Personally, Biology isn't one of my favorite subjects of all time, and I don't have a good time trying to understand the small details of it, like what does the mitochondria do or the process of photosynthesis inside a plant cell. I prefer to learn about something that I can relate to and can see the results of, like natural selection or the theory of evolution. This is why I have been able to understand (at times) the explanations in chapter 3 of The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins.
I have heard, from other people who have read this book, that it is very difficult to understand and that it is very monotonous and boring. I agree with them in the way the book can render you to close your eyes little by little, and later realize you have lost your time because you have not taken in anything from what you have read while you were unconsciously day-dreaming while scanning the words on the page. That could happen. But what is true is that the metaphors and applications of the theories of evolution that Dawkins utilizes causes the reader to be able to relate and understand the text better. The strategies the author uses certainly help me understand the things he writes about, which without these examples, could be just a big mess of letters for all I can see. For example, the analogy where Dawkins uses a boat race team to explain the intricacy of building a competent living thing on page 38 helped me clear up the terms and relationships he had been talking about on the pages previous to the metaphor.
When I received this book for the first time, I thought it was going to be another novel with a strange form and weird content, like Invisible Cities or A Simple Heart. In fact, the first pages we read in class seemed like it was going to be like I had imagined; apparently, I was wrong. The Selfish Gene is a scientific novel, but it is not written as a scientific report or as if it was the finding of the century. It has a very strange style and tone. As I see it, it is written in order to be read by as many people as can get its hands on it, not by an exclusive community of biologists and geneticists. The author's use of the word "you" creates a relationship with the reader as for him or her to think that Richard Dawkins was right there with the reader explaining the rise of the genes and its survival machines. The book also includes some exercises in which Dawkins involves the reader, which I think is great in helping his audience get a better grasp on what his book is talking about. And lets not mention that it also helps the reader stay awake!
The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins, is a scientific research book about the evolution of genes and its role in the lives of living things. Dawkins introduces many terms, many are related to biology, and I think it is important to know them. We defined them in class.
- Gene: replicator with high- copying fidelity. Any portion of chromosomal material that potentially lasts for enough generations to serve as a unit of natural selection.
- Altruistic Selfishness: a concept where acts that are seen as purely being for the good of others, are really selfish and done for the survival of the organism that did the act.
- Acquired Characteristics: traits that are gained or changed throughout a living thing's life, but are not passed on to the next generation since they are not embedded in the animal or plant's genes.
- Body: according to Richard Dawkins, gene preservers.
- Proteins: chain of amino acids.
- DNA: nucleic acid that contains the genes of living things.
- Allele: rivals for the same slot on a chromosome.
- Mitosis: a process where a cell divides into two new copies, each with 46 chromosomes.
