- #1
Master Wayne
- 26
- 3
Doubt Concerning "The Selfish Gene"
In the first chapter of "The Selfish Gene", when talking about replicating molecules, Richard Dawkins writes:
"Can we reconcile the idea that copying errors are an essential prerequisite for evolution to occur, with the statement that natural selection favours high copying-fidelity? The answer is that although evolution may seem, in some vague sense, a 'good thing', especially since we are the product of it, nothing actually 'wants' to evolve.”
I think this is a very interesting question, but I don't get the answer. If high copying-fidelity is a characteristic that is selected, wouldn't molecules, with time, present less and less variability, putting an end to evolution?
In the first chapter of "The Selfish Gene", when talking about replicating molecules, Richard Dawkins writes:
"Can we reconcile the idea that copying errors are an essential prerequisite for evolution to occur, with the statement that natural selection favours high copying-fidelity? The answer is that although evolution may seem, in some vague sense, a 'good thing', especially since we are the product of it, nothing actually 'wants' to evolve.”
I think this is a very interesting question, but I don't get the answer. If high copying-fidelity is a characteristic that is selected, wouldn't molecules, with time, present less and less variability, putting an end to evolution?