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  • Let's go back a long time ago, and we have man number one

  • with wife number one, and man number two

  • with wife number two.

  • Now man number one decides that he's going to cheat

  • on his wife, and man number two decides

  • that he's not going to cheat.

  • So let's say they both have two kids each with their wives

  • but man number one also cheated with three other women

  • and has a kid with each.

  • That gives the cheater a total of five kids with his genes

  • and the non-cheater a total of only two.

  • Now let's say a few lions get hungry and attack and eat two kids of each of the men.

  • The genes of man number two, the honest non-cheater will not survive

  • while the genes of man number one, the dishonest cheater will go on.

  • This is the main idea of the selfish gene. If there's a gene that's not selfish,

  • it will disappear over time. The cheat on your wife genes will go on

  • and the don't cheat on your wife genes will go extinct.

  • Let's look at another example... What if you're walking home to your family

  • and you come across an empty hut? The people who own the hut are out gathering

  • food but they've left the hut all by itself,

  • and you see that there's food in there. And you know you're not going to get caught

  • if you go in and steal all the food. Are you going to be selfish and steal,

  • or are you going to be a good guy?

  • Well, let's look at it in terms of man number one and man number two again.

  • Man number two decides to be honest again and goes home with what he has.

  • On the other hand, Man number one goes in and steals everything,

  • adds it to everything else he has gathered, and brings home twice as much food.

  • Now famine strikes. Both families of man number one

  • and man number two are struggling to feed themselves.

  • But, man number one has twice as much food because he was selfish.

  • Man number two's family ends up starving to death

  • and man number one struggles to feed his family but they eventually survive and reproduce.

  • Again, we end up with the selfish genes surviving while the honest genes disappear.

  • Now you might be asking, "Well, what about all the nice things

  • we do for each other?" "What about all those altruistic genes?"

  • So let me give you an example of that...

  • I have two brothers... If someone were to take a gun

  • and tell my mom that she had to choose between

  • the three of us dying or her own death,

  • I have almost full certainty that she would pick her own death.

  • So how does that work then? Where's the selfish gene there?

  • A selfish gene is obviously not going to want that, right?

  • Well, let's actually take a closer look...

  • My mom's over 50 now, so she's not going to be reproducing anymore.

  • She does have three sons however who're all capable of reproducing.

  • So the decision is between absolutely no chance of reproduction

  • or a very high chance of reproduction and survival

  • considering three healthy sons. Keeping this in mind,

  • it now makes perfect sense for a gene to be selfish

  • and want my mom to sacrifice herself. She's not going to sacrifice herself

  • for any random three brothers, why not?

  • It's not like we're the best three brothers in the world...

  • What's the difference? The difference is that they don't carry her

  • genes. So the selfish gene's logic is very clear

  • here... When you're a 50 year old woman

  • and you have three sons, it makes absolutely perfect sense to pick

  • your own death over the death of your three sons.

  • Let's look at another example... Worker bees will sting an intruder and kill

  • it but in the process the bee's internal organs

  • are ripped out and it dies as well. Wow!

  • Now that can't be because of a selfish gene, right?!

  • We love looking at social insects like bees and ants

  • and glorifying them for these selfless acts, but let's take a closer look at this kamikaze

  • behavior. What you have to keep in mind

  • is that the bee is sterile. There are two ways to help your genes survive.

  • One... To produce offspring.

  • Two... To to take care of and protect the organisms

  • with the same genes as you.

  • Well, since the bee is sterile and cannot produce its own offspring,

  • it now makes perfect sense to kill itself for the organisms

  • which do carry its genes. Dawkins says,

  • "The death of a single sterile worker bee is no more serious to its genes

  • than is the shedding of a leaf in autumn to the genes of a tree."

  • So now that we're not completely naive about all of this,

  • let's make one thing clear... Of course the gene doesn't have

  • some little brain in it that knows what to do to survive.

  • The primitive woman didn't have a sophisticated understanding of statistics

  • when she decided if it was a good idea to sacrifice herself for her kids.

  • This is all just based on what they do, but what they do turns out to be evolutionarily

  • advantageous and therefore through natural selection they

  • survive. That's it.

  • Alright, now what is the conclusion for all of this?

  • Well, that our genes are selfish otherwise we wouldn't be here,

  • and that we're simply vehicles for these genes to transport themselves into

  • the future and they have no problem throwing us away

  • once we're no longer of use to them.

  • And of course this is not the happiest conclusion to arrive at,

  • and it makes a lot of people angry! People get angry at the book and Dawkins himself!

  • Is this what you want Dawkins? Social Darwinism?! Is that what you want?!

  • I mean some people are probably angry even at this video!

  • But neither Dawkins nor I want to live in a society

  • that's governed by social darwinism. We're just simply presenting factual information.

  • Doesn't matter if you like the fact that a husband who will cheat as many times

  • as he can will have a better chance of spreading his

  • genes, that's just a fact.

  • But how can we approach this and what can we learn from it?

  • Well one... We have to start by facing reality.

  • The reality isn't pretty. We're programmed to cheat.

  • We're programmed to eat a lot of sugar. You have to understand what you're dealing

  • with if you're going to go against it.

  • It won't help you to get angry and yell, "Well, I'm not programmed to eat sugar,"

  • because you'll be presented with cookies and you'll overeat like everyone else.

  • So one, face the reality.

  • Two... We're so lucky as humans!

  • You can't expect a bird to honor his commitment to his bird wife and not cheat on her,

  • because he'll just go off of what he's programmed to do.

  • But we humans have the ability! We have the ability to go against our programming.

  • That doesn't mean that most people will go against it,

  • but it's definitely possible. Most people won't be able to go against

  • the urge to eat sugar when they're tempted by it,

  • but I also have plenty of friends who do go against eating a cookie

  • every time they're presented with one.

  • Another thing I get asked a lot is when I'm going to have kids.

  • And my answer is I'm not sure if I want kids or not.

  • I don't know if I want to play the game that I'm programmed to play

  • which is to have kids so my genes can keep going,

  • or just create my own game and play that. And to this,

  • most people's reaction is just pure shock! How could you possibly not want kids?!

  • What is wrong with you?! And that's great that there's such a strong

  • reaction, otherwise we would be extinct by now.

  • But, I might have kids or I might not. I don't know yet...

  • But I don't want it to be determined just by what I'm programmed to do

  • which is why most of us are brought into this world.

  • So again two things... One...

  • Accept the facts of natural selection. Getting angry about it doesn't help you at

  • all. Two...

  • Realize that as a human, you're extremely lucky.

  • You've been programmed for certain behaviors, but you can rebel against them

  • even if it's going to be really challenging because

  • you'll be up against years and years of evolution.

  • And finally, don't take this as an endorsment

  • for being an asshole or building a family or

  • a society around social darwinism. It will probably make you really miserable

  • but yes, your genes will be very proud of you.

  • So to quote Richard Dawkins...

  • "I am not advocating a morality based on evolution. I am saying how things have evolved.

  • I am not saying how we humans morally ought to behave.

  • I stress this, because I know I am in danger

  • of being misunderstood by those people, all too numerous,

  • who cannot distinguish a statement of belief in what is the case

  • from an advocacy of what ought to be the case."

Let's go back a long time ago, and we have man number one

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李察-道金斯的《自私的基因》動畫書評 (THE SELFISH GENE BY RICHARD DAWKINS | ANIMATED BOOK REVIEW)

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    Qianhui Rao 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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