

New discovery proves 'selfish gene' exists - FiReaNG3L
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/06/20/new.discovery.proves.selfish.gene.exists

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celticjames
This seems like a gross misunderstanding of Richard Dawkins's argument. The
neo-darminist claim is that all genes are inherently selfish. In order for a
gene to survive, that gene must have a phenotypic effect that maximizes the
survival of the gene. Because natural selection occurs at the level of the
gene, altruistic genes disappear from the gene pool. So I don't know what the
scientist quoted in the article could possibly mean when he says he has
discovered _the_ selfish gene. (I hope it is not necessary to point out on
this forum that selfish genes have nothing to do with the selfishness or
altruism of an individual organism. Selfish genes can produce altruistic
people if that's the phenotypic effect that helps them survive.)

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iamwil
There's not much news content here, just a claim. Where's the link to the
paper? Where's the summary of the paper? How does one identify it as the
selfish gene? I'm not discounting Dawkins here, more that the article has no
substance whatsoever.

