The Selfish Gene

Have you ever thought that your gene can be selfish ??

I started reading this book 'The selfish gene' by Richard Dawkins and i was struck with amazement. Dawkins has presented a totally new picture of life altogether. It was very witty of him to think that way - out of the box. Here is what i have grasped from the early chapters:

Billions of years ago before 'life'(we still dont have a definite definition of what it is) started there was nothing on earth. Then gradually atoms began to combine and form molecules under certain conditions. Molecules then began to interact with each other and form complex molecules. There was a 'natural selection' involved here at a very low level - molecules choosing other molecules.

Slowly, some of the complex objects began to become stable and they started to replicate under some conditions. Here comes 'survival of the fittest'. The objects which replicated faster, which survived longer and which can inhibit/destroy other objects gradually became predominant.

From now on we will call these Objects - the genes. later on these genes started using the available material to build coats around them - for protection. They developed mechanisms to
get substance into the coat - use it - throw whatever is not necessary out and all that stuff.

The coat gradually became more and more complex and advanced and the gene started creating parts and delegating some specific work to those parts. It happily sat inside and controlled all the work. the genes learnt how to survive effectively.

I guess thats what we are today - 'survival machines' for the gene - the selfish gene.

I have started getting a wierd feeling about this whole idea. I am just a sack-full of some selfish genes which just get work done by me and they survive!!

Think about it :)