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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  4063 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Why it's time to lay the selfish gene to rest

Me too, mostly because the author tries to set rapid gene expression up as a parallel alternative to current gene theory while giving only a couple of tetchy examples. I'm absolutely sure that listening to a Dawkins seminar would convince me wholeheartedly that he's right all over again, just like when I read the Selfish Gene five years ago.





b_b  ·  4063 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Well the selfish gene hypothesis was a thought experiment to begin with, and a damn good one. It's not supposed to be an all encompassing theory of biology, as far as I know. It's a thought experiment insofar as Dawkins's idea was to take us back to the dawn of proto-life and to envision how those molecules might have competed with one another. And, if organisms grew from such beginnings, what should we expect to see today? It is a relevant exercise, and I fail to see how it's been put to rest.

user-inactivated  ·  4063 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I should have said, the author tries to set them up as equals, not as parallel theories.

b_b  ·  4063 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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