Selfish Gene (pg. 21-45)

During the third chapter, Dawkin's explains the 'immortal coil' theory (which represents DNA). Throughout this passage of the book we learn how the human body works and how information is passed down by generations through genes, chromosomes, etc. To make the explanation simpler Richard Dawkin uses architectural terms and gives each process a specific name that is used in construction. After giving a small introduction, the writer talks about the replicator and how it influenced in natural selection. Dawkin also mentions alleles which he explains as a competition between genes to choose the dominate eye color, hair type, etc. The author later on gives a small explanation on how the human body works and how other organisms function as well. "You cannot, of course, literally go and choose your genes from a pool of genes available to the whole population. At any given time all the genes are tied up inside individual survival machines. Our genes are doled out to us at conception, and there is nothing we can do about this. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which, in the long term, the genes of the population in general can be regarded as a gene pool. This phrase is in fact a technical term used by geneticists. The gene pool is a worthwhile abstraction because sex mixes genes up, albeit in a carefully organized way. In particular, something like the detaching and interchanging of pages and wads of pages from loose-leaf binders really does go on, as we shall presently see. (The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkin, Ch. 3, pg. 26)" While reading this chapter, one can find a wide variety of useful information, for example Dawkin explains that you can read, study, etc. and expand your mental capabilities, but this sort of thing will not be passed down to your children because it is not carried in your genes, but rather in your brain. This seems like a useful piece of information for parents who think that their 'brilliance' must be handed down to their children.

Reading this chapter was not easy and I had to stop several times to think and organize all the information that was given by the author. Several times I had to go back and reread because understanding right away was not easy. Writing blogs for this book seem to be getting harder every time, but getting questions for the next time one reads keeps getting easier. I still don't understand where the replicator goes with all of the information that has been given by Dawkin's. Can the selfish gene be stronger in some creatures than in others, but not demonstrate it? If I were to have a stronger selfish gene than my colleagues is it possible to control it better than they can? Does our life expectancy have anything to do with our genes? Or is it just a matter of how we develop? One of the thing I did enjoy was the author way of explaining DNA as the 'immortal coil' because as we all know a coil never ends. This was an interesting way of putting it.