“What is the selfish gene? It is not just one single physical bit of DNA. Just as in the primeval soup, it is all replicas of a particular bit of DNA, distributed throughout the world.”

—  Richard Dawkins , book The Selfish Gene

Source: The Selfish Gene (1976, 1989), Ch. 6. Genesmanship

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "What is the selfish gene? It is not just one single physical bit of DNA. Just as in the primeval soup, it is all replic…" by Richard Dawkins?
Richard Dawkins photo
Richard Dawkins 322
English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author 1941

Related quotes

Richard Dawkins photo

“… a gene might be able to assist replicas of itself that are sitting in other bodies. If so, this would appear as individual altruism but it would be brought about by gene selfishness.”

Richard Dawkins book The Selfish Gene

Source: The Selfish Gene (1976, 1989), Ch. 6. Genesmanship

Gottfried Schatz photo

“I find it hard to swallow that I have only ten times more genes than those lowly bacteria in my gut. I had always liked the fact that they have ten thousand times less DNA than I did — that felt about right — but a factor of ten was carrying democracy a bit too far.”

Gottfried Schatz (1936–2015) biochemist

Jeff's view on science and scientists (Amsterdam, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006, ISBN 0-444-52133-X, pbk.), Ch. 3: "Me and my genome" (p. 22).

Joyce Meyer photo

“Compromise means to go just a little bit below what you know is right. It's just a little bit, but it's the little foxes that spoil the vine.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker
John D. Barrow photo

“Just focusing on what exists now seems a bit exclusive.”

John D. Barrow (1952–2020) British scientist

The Book of Universes: Exploring the Limits of the Cosmos (2011)
Context: Just focusing on what exists now seems a bit exclusive. And if we include everything that has ever existed as part of the universe, why not include the future as well? This seems to leave us with the definition that the universe is everything that has ever existed, does exist, or will ever exist.<!--ch. 1, p. 3

Richard Dawkins photo

“… the true utility function of life, that which is being maximised in the natural world, is DNA survival. But DNA is not floating free; it is locked up in living bodies and it has made the most of the levers of power at its disposal.”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author

River out of Eden (1995)

Richard Dawkins photo

“It is a very helpful insight to say we are vehicles for our DNA, we are hosts for DNA parasites which are our genes. Those are insights which help us to understand an aspect of life. But it's emotive to say, that's all there is to it, we might as well give up going to Shakespeare plays and give up listening to music and things, because that's got nothing to do with it. That's an entirely different subject.”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author

An Interview by Sheena McDonald (1995)

Sarah Maple photo

“It's just a penis, it's just a bit of flesh, just this one organ, people think makes you superior to another sex.”

Sarah Maple (1985) British artist

"Sarah Maple interviewed by Anousha Nzume at the Women Inc. Festival" (5 March 2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4oXs_BzmUw

Marissa Mayer photo

“I think I’ve always thought of culture as DNA. I don’t know a lot about genetics, but I understand some of it and I think that what you really want are the genes that are positive to hyper-express themselves in culture.”

Marissa Mayer (1975) American business executive and engineer, former ceo of Yahoo!

fortune.com http://fortune.com/2013/10/17/transcript-marissa-mayer-at-fortune-mpw/.

Carl Sagan photo

“All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.”

Carl Sagan book Cosmos

Cosmos (2011 ebook edition)
Carl Sagan
Random House
2011
July
http://books.google.com/books?id=EIqoiww1r9sC&pg=PT312&dq=%22Not+all+bits+have+equal+value%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yHThUrX4Ns-xoQSIr4DoCQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22Not%20all%20bits%20have%20equal%20value%22&f=false;

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“Limiting the freedom of news 'just a little bit' is in the same category with the classic example 'a little bit pregnant.”

Robert A. Heinlein book The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Source: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Related topics