Image taken from [1]

Introduction

I have been wanting to write the article you are starting to read for a long time and today I finally decided to write it. At the end of 2015, I was taking a subject at the university called Evolutionary Computing, where they taught us the relationship between computer science and biology, specifically with the evolution of species. Among the homework that the teacher assigned us, there was one that was by far the best (in my opinion), reading the Selfish Gene, the book I will talk about today. By the way, the assigned work was not only to read the book, but also a summary of it by chapters. If you click here you can download the summary that I did that time, maybe after reading it you will be encouraged and read the complete work.

About the book

Egoism is innate in all species. Throughout the book, Richard Dawkins tries to show us the theory that individual good is a priority over the common good. Of course, at no time should the work be taken as a manual of human behavior. Richard Dawkins does not want to be a moralist, far from it. All he wants is to show his theory and prove that selfishness is a biological part of living beings.

Richard Dawkins, author of El Gen Egoísta, taken from [2]

At the beginning of the work, the author gives us examples of selfish and altruistic behaviors (apparently altruistic, according to Dawkins). An individual is selfish when he puts his personal interests above group interests. An example of this is the behavior of black-headed gulls. This species of bird takes advantage when its neighbors leave the nest alone to eat the hatched eggs. The black-headed gull puts its personal interests (not dying of hunger) above group interests (the good of its neighbor and its own species).

Black-headed gull, taken from [3]

On the contrary, an individual is altruistic when he puts the good of his group above the good of the individual. The quintessential example of this behavior is that which occurs in gregarious insects (ants, termites, bees, etc.). I think most people know what happens to a bee when it stings a predator that tries to invade its hive. The bee practically signs its death sentence, because when it attacks it weakens and dies. He gives his life for his sisters and will not reap the fruits of that fight. Later you will realize that it is not that gregarious insects are altruistic, but that from a selfish and individual point of view, it is better to sacrifice.

Subsequently, the author tells us how life was formed on Earth and tells us about the primary broth, a soup of chemical components that was formed millions of years ago on Earth, and where we all come from, in that broth the first molecules and the replicator were formed; a type of molecule that had the characteristic of making (not exact) copies of itself. Until that moment on Earth there was a population of molecules, there was variability between them and the author explains to us that there was competition between them. With these three components everything was ready for evolution to do its thing.

The primary broth, taken from [4]

Perhaps some molecules evolved by developing more resistant primitive bodies, in the author’s terms survival machines, perhaps at first these bodies were just a layer of protein, but over time they were perfected, until they became true super machines. But where are these machines? Dawkins ends this chapter by saying something quite interesting, I quote:

They should not be looked for floating freely in the sea; they gave up that easy freedom a long time ago. Now, they abound in large colonies, safe inside giant, dull robots… They are found in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and its preservation is the ultimate reason for our existence. Those replicators have come a long way. They are now known as genes, and we are their survival machines.

Up to this point the book had already hooked me and I wanted to read more and more. Another point that I was amazed by was the explanation that Dawkins gives about altruism, in summary he says that group altruism is normally accompanied by selfishness between different groups. That is to say, there may be altruism among members of a group, but that group will be selfish with another group. This gives rise to saying that people are almost always altruistic with their closest group. This explains why perhaps a father is capable of giving his life for his son, but perhaps not for a nephew. The level of kinship and the closeness between groups of human beings (or other species) make them behave in an “altruistic” way, but in the end it is simple selfishness in disguise.

Before moving on to the opinions on the book, I would like to highlight the fact that it makes gregarious insects act in an apparently altruistic manner. When a drone pollinates a queen, she saves the drone’s sperm to produce her daughters. It happens that sometimes the queen does not inseminate some of her eggs. These uninseminated eggs will become new drones. In this sense, a male has only one pair of chromosomes (those from his mother).

Castes of bees, taken from [5]

From the above, it can be stated that a worker is almost a clone of its sister, and from a selfish point of view, it is very profitable for a gregarious insect to give its life for its sister, since they share almost all of their genes. It is as if she were sacrificing herself to save herself (in theory, if you have a twin brother, it would make sense to give your life for him, since you share almost the entire set of genes, it is as if you were giving your life for yourself).

The book continues with other very interesting and relevant passages, but I don’t want to make this article longer, it is better that you discover it for yourself.

Opinions

Although the book deals with quite complex topics (e.g. genetics, biology, natural sciences), the author’s way of writing ensures that you do not get bored of reading, it is quite understandable in general, you do not have to be an expert in the area to understand what Dawkins exposes in his theory of the Selfish Gene. Something that is worth highlighting is that the author never expects us to believe his theory, he simply puts the cards on the table and shows us another point of view, another way of understanding human behavior, you decide if you believe that selfishness is something innate in living beings or you refuse.

From my point of view, I believe that selfishness IS impregnated in our genes, I believe that all living beings come with that factory programmed instruction, but the beauty of this is that we, human beings, are until now the only being that can decide on their actions, we do not act by instinct, we can re-program those customs and be more altruistic, not only with our close group or family, but with everyone who needs us.

Conclusions

I hope you liked this little article and you are encouraged to read The Selfish Gene, and if you have already read it, do not hesitate to comment below what you thought. That being said, we’ll see you another time, see you soon.

Translated using GPT 5.3 Codex