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Natural Selection
A replicator is any entity that can make copies of itself. Richard Dawkins argues that, in the natural world, the replicator is not the organism or the species, but, rather, little bits of DNA called genes. Dawkins argues that ideas, or memes, are also replicators, because their copies embed themselves in different people’s brains. Theoretically, a replicator can be any entity that is capable of making copies of itself. A replicator isn’t defined by what it’s made of, but by its function, which is making copies or clones of itself. For Dawkins, the replicator is the thing that is evolving in any form of evolution.
Replicator Quotes in The Selfish Gene
The The Selfish Gene quotes below are all either spoken by Replicator or refer to Replicator. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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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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After asserting that people, like all living organisms, are essentially “survival machines” created by our genes to keep themselves alive, Richard Dawkins tells an origin story of life on Earth, to explain how genes came to exist, and then—many thousands of millions of years later—how we came to exist. Dawkins, drawing on Darwin, essentially condenses this history into a single process: evolution. For Dawkins, evolution is the story of replicating entities and the tools they create to survive. His story concludes with this quote, which sums up the entire history of life on Earth from the dawn of time to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. Dolores aut voluptatibus. Voluptatem qui voluptatum. Voluptatibus sed placeat. Aut tenet
Chapter 3 Quotes
A gene is defined as any portion of chromosomal material that potentially lasts for enough generations to serve as a unit of natural selection.
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After having explained how genes are distributed through the body, Dawkins turns to the question of what a gene actually is. In the technical sense, a gene is a portion of DNA, or chromosomal material made of building blocks called A, T, G, and C. But Dawkins isn’t concerned with specifying the content of a gene more specifically than that—he’s more interested in bits of DNA that stay stuck together as they pass through different generations of organisms. Some of them might be bigger, and some of them might be smaller. So, one gene might be “ACC,” and another might Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro p
Each entity must exist in the form of lots of copies, and at least some of the copies must be potentially capable of surviving—in the form of copies—for a significant period of evolutionary time. Small genetic units have these properties: individuals, groups, and species do not.
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After Dawkins has specified that a gene is a replicator made of DNA, he articulates one of the central points of his argument: although many scientists try to decide between individuals and groups as the things that evolve, neither option is a candidate for a “unit” of evolution for Dawkins. Rather, Dawkins believes that genes themselves are what is evolving, and those genes just happen to outwardly manifest in individuals and species. He thinks evolution is only possible when differential entities are competing to survive (by becoming more numerous) in a world with finite resources. For groups or individuals to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostr
Chapter 6 Quotes
[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.
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Many group selectionists rely on the observation that family members often sacrifice their individual well-being (or jeopardize their own chances of survival) for their relatives, to defend the idea of altruism in nature. When Dawkins tackles the issue of why family members are nice to each other, he immediately dismantles the group selectionists’ notion with a very simple reminder: he refers to a gene as a single entity, but really what counts as an individual gene is the gene plus all its replicas in the universe. They are all copies or clones of each other, spread out into other survival Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque om
Chapter 11 Quotes
But is there anything that must be true of all life, wherever it is found, and whatever the basis of its chemistry? […] Obviously I do not know, but if I had to bet, I would put my money on one fundamental principle. This is the law that all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities. The gene, the DNA molecule, happens to be the replicating entity that prevails on our own planet.
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As Dawkins shifts his focus to discussing human culture, he makes an important claim about evolution that he revisits again later in his argument. Since he is offering a functionalist account of evolution, his argument revolves around situations in which the observed process matches the process of evolution. It doesn’t actually matter what “things” are taking part in the process, it’s the process that matters. He means that evolution requires there to be replicators (things of which copies are made) competing over finite resources. A gene is an example of a replicator, but anything that functions in the same way Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas
I think that a new kind of replicator has recently emerged on this very planet. It is starting us in the face. It is still in its infancy, still drifting clumsily about in its primeval soup, but already it is achieving evolutionary change at a rate that leaves the old gene panting far behind. The new soup is the soup of human culture. We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. “Mimeme” comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like “gene.” I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme.
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After Dawkins has claimed that multiple kinds of entities can fit the description of a replicator, he argues that we don’t actually need to go looking for life on other planets to see if he is right. He believes there is a second type of replicator that has recently emerged on Earth, and this replicator is a “meme.” Adapted from the Greek word for “imitation,” a meme is a bit of human culture that gets copied and spread around in its “primeval soup.” Primeval soup captures the pool in which a replicator floats around. For genes, the primeval soup was Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi om
We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth and, if necessary the selfish memes of our indoctrination. We can even discuss ways of deliberately cultivating and nurturing pure, disinterested altruism—something that has no place in nature, something that has never existed before in the whole history of the world. We are built as gene machines and cultured as meme machines, but we have the power to turn against our creators. We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators.
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A couple of times so far, Dawkins has asked if there’s anything that makes humans different from other organisms on Earth. It would be quite depressing if it turned out that we’re no different from a cell, or bit of seaweed in our purpose. Here, Dawkins provides his answer. In fact, there is something about humans that makes us unique. We shouldn’t despair that we’re just survival machines for genes, because we also have memes: our culture. We have significantly more agency when it comes to memes. We can choose which ones stick with us, and which ones we’ll spread Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui
Chapter 13 Quotes
The only kind of entity that has to exist in order for life to arise, anywhere in the universe, is the immortal replicator.
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Dawkins has just suggested that scientists think about genes and phenotypic effects, instead of individuals and environments. This suggestion is important for two reasons. First, it’s really the genes that matter—and their phenotypic effects extend beyond the individuals they’re in. A phenotypic effect of a gene can easily manifest in another individual’s body, or elsewhere in the environment. Dawkins thinks it’s no wonder that scientists started talking about organisms when they thought about evolution, because that’s what they see when they look around them. But he really thinks that when it comes down to it, the only thing that matters Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. V
Epilogue Quotes
An organism has a frequency of one, and therefore cannot ‘serve as a unit of natural selection.’ Not in the same sense of replicator anyway.
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As Dawkins is ending his argument, he restates, for the final time, what he believes to be a central flaw in the group selectionist picture of evolution. Group selectionists like V.C. Wynne-Edwards and E.O. Wilson think that organisms (or groups of organisms) evolve on an individual or species level, respectively. But Dawkins believes that evolution is a process by which a replicator attempts to become more numerous, and therefore that the evolutionary unit is the replicator itself. In living things, this replicator tends to be the gene. The success of a gene can be measured by counting how many copies Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscip
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Replicator Term Timeline in The Selfish Gene
The timeline below shows where the term Replicator appears in The Selfish Gene. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: The Replicators
...atoms to attach in the same pattern as its original atoms. Dawkins call this a “replicator.”
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...tiny bit wrong once in a while. The primeval soup would then have slightly different replicators competing for free atoms. This sets up the conditions for natural selection. Does this mean...
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At some point, one of the slightly different replicators must have been copied in such a way that it had the capacity to “steal”...
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As more occasional miscopies were made, it’s likely that one replicator had the capacity to break down protein walls so that it could eat up the...
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...made us, and they “manipulate” us from inside. In effect, we are “lumbering robots” that replicators made to survive.
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Chapter 3: Immortal Coils
...the inside, the base chemistry of every living thing is the same: they all contain replicators (genes, or DNA) that are more or less the same type of molecule. This molecule...
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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...
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Chapter 10: You Scratch My Back, I’ll Ride on Yours
...Without mitochondria, we would die. And without us, mitochondria would die. Similarly, viruses are parasitic replicators (DNA surrounded by protein) that have bypassed the need to be transferred through reproductive organs....
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Chapter 11: Memes: The New Replicators
Dawkins recalls that what makes genes special is that they are replicators. It might well be that on other planets based on silicone instead of carbon, or...
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...need not look at alien planets to figure this out, because “a new kind of replicator has emerged on earth.” It’s still in “infancy,” floating around in primeval soup, but it’s...
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The replicator in the soup of human culture is something that can rapidly imitate itself. Dawkins decides...
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...bit of a stretch. He thinks that for thousands of millions of years, the only replicator on Earth was DNA, but when the conditions arose for a new replicator, there’s no...
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...be a whole song, or just the catchiest part of it. These become slightly different replicators (just like genes).
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...is that human brains have the capacity for conscious foresight. Genes don’t—they are “unconscious, blind replicators.” Even though humanity’s genes (and memes) are “selfish,” we have “the power to defy the...
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Chapter 13: The Long Reach of the Gene
...of evolution. On one hand, there is a beguiling picture of genes—immortal coils, or DNA replicators—forming temporary colonies and passing through generations of mortal, throwaway survival machines. On the other hand,...
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...one way to get around the problem of talking about “individuals” is to talk about replicators and vehicles. The fundamental units of evolution are things that replicate. In humans, this is...
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...“group of organisms” are candidates for the “vehicle” role, but neither are candidates for the “replicator” role. Between individuals and groups, “individuals” win out as vehicles, because the category “group” is...
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...The manifesto begins with the claim that “fundamental unit—the “prime mover of all life”—is the replicator. A replicator is “anything in the universe of which copies are made.” Replicators come into...
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Since no copying process is perfect, slightly different replicators will emerge that are better or worse at making copies of themselves. The ones that...
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Replicators will find more and more elaborate ways of perpetuating themselves. Replicators survive because of their...
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At some point in time, this “ganging up of mutually compatible replicators” formalized into discrete vehicles: “cells, and later, many celled bodies.” The vehicles that evolved a...
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...organisms. The world is “criss-crossed” with arrows joining phenotypic effects to genes. Dawkins concludes that replicators are no longer peppered freely around the universe. They are packaged into individual bodies. Similarly,...
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