Selfish genes die! -book review (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, January 17, 2016, 16:39 (3234 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: A new book says do away with selfish genes and think of genes as working together in a cooperative society!
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22930561-000-the-society-of-genes-time-for-a-sub...-QUOTE: "FORTY years ago, Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene popularised the notion that the gene, rather than the individual, was the true unit of evolution. That view has dominated evolutionary genetics ever since. But in The Society of Genes, biologists Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher say that it's time to replace the selfish-gene metaphor with a new one that focuses on relationships.-We are not the simple sum of our genes,” they write. “The members of the society of genes do not live in isolation. Working together, forming rivalries and partnerships, is the only way they can form a human body that can sustain them for a few decades and propel them into the next generation of humanity.” (My bold)-Thank you for this, and three cheers for Lynn Margulis, who carried the flag for symbiosis and cooperation as a key to understanding evolution. She was also a champion of cellular intelligence.