I’m reading Richard Dawkins, “The Selfish Gene“, as my book on evolution. It first went into print in 1976–I was six years old. But the general feeling is that it has held up very well. I intend to read no more than a chapter a day and to really try and think through the concepts.

Apparently, Dawkins overarching idea is that natural selection is all about assuring that genes are passed on at whatever cost. I literally am reading the preface, but Dawkins is taking pains to point out that he isn’t saying that genes are selfishly thinking, “Me, me, me, me, me.”, but rather that they behave in a way that is largely indistinguishable from your freshman year girlfriend.

He also argues that this “selfishness” even helps to explain seemingly altruistic or selfish acts performed by people and animals. Your role as a human, as any living creature really, is as a kind of vessel. You exist to pass on your genes in a larger sense, not necessarily your exact genes.

Okay, that’s not clear.

Look, you might note that a honeybee eviscerates itself in stinging an attacker of the hive and wonder how that is selfish. Dawkins seems to be saying first that the honeybee itself doesn’t matter in the natural selection scheme of things–only the genes that it carries. He would further say that even the genes in that particular honeybee aren’t that important. What is most important is that copies of those genes survive. By killing itself to protect the hive, the honeybee helps to ensure that other bees with the same genes survive, even if he doesn’t.

It’s like dying for your country–it is both selfless and selfish.