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The Selfish Gene is a 1976 book on evolution by ethologist Richard Dawkins that promotes the gene-centred view of evolution, as opposed to views focused on the organism and the group. The book builds upon the thesis of George C. Williams 's Adaptation and Natural Selection (1966); it also popularized ideas developed during the 1960s by W. D ...
The gene's-eye view was a synthesis of the population genetic models of the modern synthesis, in particular the work of RA Fisher, and the social evolution models of W. D. Hamilton. The view was popularized by George Williams's Adaptation and Natural Selection [7] and Richard Dawkins's best seller The Selfish Gene. [8]
The gene is a unit of hereditary information that exists in many physical copies in the world, and which particular physical copy will be replicated and originate new copies does not matter from the gene's point of view. [20] A selfish gene could be favored by selection by producing altruism among organisms containing it.
Selfish gene may refer to: . Selfish gene theory, the gene-centered view of evolution; The Selfish Gene, a book by Richard Dawkins discussing the selfish gene theory; Selfish genetic elements, which are genetic segments that can enhance their own transmission at the expense of other genes in their host genome, most commonly by creating new copies of themselves within that genome.
The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population). [65] In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency". [66]
DNA transposons, LTR retrotransposons, SINEs, and LINEs make up a majority of the human genome. Mobile genetic elements (MGEs), sometimes called selfish genetic elements, [1] are a type of genetic material that can move around within a genome, or that can be transferred from one species or replicon to another.
The central thesis of The Extended Phenotype, and of its predecessor by the same author, The Selfish Gene, is that individual organisms are not the true units of natural selection. Instead, the gene — or the 'active, germ-line replicator' — is the unit upon which the forces of evolutionary selection and adaptation act.
The word meme itself is a neologism coined by Richard Dawkins, originating from his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. [14] Dawkins's own position is somewhat ambiguous. He welcomed N. K. Humphrey 's suggestion that "memes should be considered as living structures, not just metaphorically", [ 14 ] and proposed to regard memes as "physically residing ...