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Survival machines represent all the different organisms in the world. Every living being is a survival machine, including cells, viruses, algae, parasites, beetles, mice, whales, humans, and everything in between. Dawkins calls living things survival machines because he believes that organisms are built by genes for the sole purpose of facilitating those gene’s survival. Genes, as Dawkins defines them, are small bits of DNA that can clone themselves. Cells are a group of genes that has built a protective wall around itself by synthesizing protein. The protective wall keeps the genes safe from invasion by other molecules. A cell, therefore, is a very simple example of a “machine” that helps DNA—or, genes—stay intact, or “survive.” Dawkins thinks that over time, genes built more and more complex and efficient machines to protect its molecules, and that’s what all the organisms on earth are. This viewpoint supports the argument that all living things are just “machines” programmed by genes to help the genes “survive.” Dawkins thinks this is a profound claim, because it means that genes (and not organisms) are the things that are evolving in this world. Humans, in a sense, like all organisms, are just by-products of this process.
Survival Machines Quotes in The Selfish Gene
The The Selfish Gene quotes below all refer to the symbol of Survival Machines. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Preface Quotes
We are survival machines—robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve selfish molecules known as genes.
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Richard Dawkins (speaker)
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Richard Dawkins begins The Selfish Gene with this bold claim, which he will spend the rest of the book defending. He alludes to two important ideas that come up time and time again throughout his argument.
Firstly, human beings are “survival machines.” Although humans think of ourselves as fully-fledged, autonomous individuals, the only reason we—and every other living thing on the planet—exist is because we were created by genes living inside us, for the sole purpose of perpetuating those genes’ existence. Genes are DNA molecules that can make clones or copies of themselves by attracting other molecules to attach to them in the same patterns. Since there is a finite amount of matter in the universe, genes are competing for this matter. In order to protect their own molecules from being stolen, genes build protective shells around themselves made of protein. These protective shells are “survival machines,” meaning organism that function for the sole purpose of continuing to exist. Every living thing on Earth is a survival machine that is programmed to function the way it does by genes living inside it. Some of these machines, like humans and birds, are very complex. Others, like bacteria and algae, are very simple. But ultimately, all beings serve the same function: they enable genes to keep existing.
Secondly, a gene only exists if it is able to keep making copies of itself. These copies get passed on through sexual reproduction, and spread into new survival machines with each generation. Since a gene’s sole purpose is to keep existing by making as many copies of itself as possible, genes are fundamentally “selfish.”
Chapter 2 Quotes
They are in you and in me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence. They have come a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines.
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Chapter 3 Quotes
It is as though, in every room of a gigantic building, there was a book-case containing the architect’s plans for the entire building. […] Incidentally, there is of course no ‘architect.’ The DNA instructions are assembled by natural selection.
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The oarsmen are the genes. The rivals for each seat in the boat are alleles potentially capable of occupying the same slot along the length of a chromosome. Rowing fast corresponds to building a body which is successful at surviving. The wind is the environment. The pool of alternative candidates is the gene pool. As far as the survival of any one body is concerned, all its genes are in the same boat.
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Chapter 4 Quotes
Nowadays the intricate mutual co-evolution of genes has proceeded to such an extent that the communal nature of an individual survival machine is virtually unrecognizable. Indeed, many biologists do not recognize it, and will disagree with me.
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Survival Machines Symbol Timeline in The Selfish Gene
The timeline below shows where the symbol Survival Machines appears in The Selfish Gene. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Preface to the First Edition
...Dawkins admits that he is still astonished by his core claim that humans are “ survival machines ” programmed to preserve little molecules inside us called genes. He hopes the reader will...
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Chapter 2: The Replicators
...more robust protein wall. Dawkins suggests that this protecting shell can be called a “ survival machine ,” since it keeps the replicators inside it intact, or “alive.”
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...process would have continued for thousands of millions of years, just like that, with the survival machines getting more and more complex. That’s where humans come into the picture: we are very...
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Chapter 3: Immortal Coils
Dawkins thinks that humans are survival machines , and so are all other living entities on the planet as well, including “animals,...
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A “good” gene will live longer if it makes a better survival machine to live in. For example, a gene that instructs its survival machine to have longer...
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Of course, genes also cooperate since they share survival machines . Dawkins uses another metaphor to explain this phenomenon: oarsmen in a rowboat. An oarsman...
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Dawkins wonders why genes build survival machines that reproduce instead of just building bodies that last forever. He thinks that this is...
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...another puzzle to think about. If genes are the things evolving, why do they build survival machines that reproduce and only pass on half their genes to the next generation? Dawkins thinks...
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Chapter 4: The Gene Machine
The topic shifts from replicators to survival machines , meaning organisms, including humans. Dawkins wonders why many organisms have brains. He thinks that...
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Because genes have to program survival machines and hope for the best after that point, the programming is a “gamble.” One way...
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Finally, Dawkins addresses communication among organisms. Many survival machines communicate to enhance their chances of survival. For example, baby birds “cheep” when they are...
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Chapter 5: Aggression
...the best use of its environment in order to survive. This “environment” includes other individuals. Survival machines of different species might compete for resources. They can be predators, prey, parasites, or hosts....
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It might be logical to assume that a survival machine who competes for mates would do best by murdering its rivals (and maybe also eating...
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...off balance and undermine their overall performance. Similarly, it’s hard for genes to infiltrate a survival machine that is already a fine-tuned mixture of genes that cooperate well. This is why most...
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Once in a while, a new gene will make a survival machine work better. There will be a transition period of instability, which tests how the enhanced...
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Chapter 6: Genesmanship
...being albino. Theoretically, a gene for albinism could do well if it also programmed its survival machines to be altruistic toward other albino people. If the albino gene could make one of...
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Dawkins wonders if some genes can detect copies of themselves in other survival machines , as it’s clear that this ability would very well in the gene pool. He...
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...when compared to the brother/sister relationship. They are just two examples of gene preservation in survival machines that share 50 percent of their genes. It doesn’t matter that genes aren’t transferred from...
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...than if I ate them all myself. Of course, genes can’t make decisions for their survival machines on a day to day basis. They program them with certain hereditary traits—or, “rules for...
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Chapter 9: Battle of the Sexes
Dawkins recalls that he is thinking of individuals as survival machines for their genes. Each individual wants to mate and pass on as many genes as...
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Chapter 10: You Scratch My Back, I’ll Ride on Yours
Dawkins has considered aggressive, parental, and sexual behaviors among survival machines . Now, he wants to address social insects, understand why animals live in groups, and...
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Chapter 11: Memes: The New Replicators
Dawkins hasn’t talked much about humans yet. One of the reasons he uses “ survival machine ” instead of “animal” is because it includes plants and humans, so he thinks everything...
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...can live on intact in ways that genes don’t. Genes tend to separate into different survival machines , meaning their colonies don’t stay intact. But memes can live on intact for much...
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Chapter 13: The Long Reach of the Gene
...of genes—immortal coils, or DNA replicators—forming temporary colonies and passing through generations of mortal, throwaway survival machines . On the other hand, there is a coherent sense of each individual as one...
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...evolution are things that replicate. In humans, this is DNA. They “gang together” in communal survival machines , or vehicles. In humans, these vehicles are our bodies. Replicators don’t run around and...
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...Extended Phenotype attempts to answer questions about why genes gang up in cells, live in survival machines , and transfer to new hosts via a “bottleneck” route of reproduction. Dawkins briefly sketches...
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...every cell of the embryo that’s built. It’s also more likely the cells in that survival machine will cooperate, since they have the same interest at heart: propagation of the genes inside...
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