#selfishgene

[books-aremyescape]

Genetics are honestly the most interesting thing to me. This book is super good and definitely one I will re read to gain a full understanding. Based in biology, it has a loose philosophy feel and read that I need to read more than once. #selfishgene #richarddawkins #firsttimeread

[queenof-supreme-blog]

"Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are all born selfish"

[fittie7]

Rational self interested people vs. Altruism

I've always been taught and believed people are self-interested/rational humans. In other words, people act in their own best interest. This helps society because, as the saying goes, it is not the benevolence of the butcher that gets his meat on ur table(paraphrasing Adam Smith). But upon reading The Selfish Gene, i am confused. How can a species be selfish even if it does practice altruistic actions? Im new to this and i guess I'm confused and had to type it out!! Any one want to have a discussion on this? ^_^

[forwarddesign-blog]

A continuation of a design idea I had that involved visualising choice snippets of lyrics from my favourite bands. This is from a song called Selfish Gene by Panda Bear. The text dictated the whole look of this design, which is unsurprisingly a little ttrriipppyy.

[forwarddesign-blog]

Geometrical design based on Panda Bear’s song called Selfish Gene. The graph motif was used to evoke a calculated, mathematical approach to the sentimentality of the text.

[unfilterednotes]

An Appetite For Wonder

I am reading Richard Dawkins’ memoir An Appetite For Wonder. While I often enjoy memoirs and the almost voyeuristic look into the sanitized semi-accurate reflections of an individual upon his or her life, I must admit Dawkins’ memoir is thus far a disappointment. Indeed, it is only because I refuse to start a book and then abandon it that I am still actually reading it. I also signed up to hear him speak on this very book at the Miami Book Fair. The second half of the book is actually quite fantastic in a technical sense. I have at least three good reasons to finish the book. 

There is something about a book filled with the reflections of an English man who was born in Kenya who is rightly reflecting on the glorious life he has led that caused me severe discomfort.

Unfortunately, his story cannot be told or divorced from the backdrop of his illustrious family’s ability to capitalize on British imperialism in order to freely roam the planet.

As an East-African refugee, I couldn't help but read his reflections through the lens of colonization.

While many of you who read the memoir may gaze at the family photos based in Africa with a sense of a wonder, I was thinking:

“You did not have permission to be there. None of you did. You attended a private school in Kenya because of countless acts of violence and brutality."

What I understood to be amusing on an intellectual level fell flat when it hit my stomach. What I knew ought to be thought provoking would send me on a quest to line up the dates of his forefathers lives with the end of mine.

I couldn't help but see my grandfather’s story in the backdrop of his. I was reading about Dawkins’ life but I was thinking about my grandfather death. If my grandfather’s story were ever written, it would be a story pieced together from the perspective of those in the background in which the characters in Dawkins’ memoir are the foreground.

I understand that one need not identify with a text or an author to appreciate the work. It is clear to me that my inability to lose myself in this memoir (which according to me is the true test of a memoir) is a result of my personal features, history and nationality.

His memoir left me ambivalent, uncertain and with a renewed commitment to reread The Selfish Gene and figure out if I too belong to the class of individuals who mistake the entire organism as the “fundamental unit of natural selection.”

I love the shit out of his other work. I am an especially big fan of the ruthlessness with which he disposes of religious arguments. I will finish the damn memoir and then I will listen to one of the world’s foremost intellectuals reflect on his life in person. And I will be inspired and feel incredibly privileged and many of you will be jealous.

That is pretty damn glorious.

Recommendation: 

You should read the memoir. The first 168 pages you can skim. The chapter titled “Learning The Trade” is where you begin to get insight into the Richard Dawkins we think we know.

Final Grade:1st half: C+; 2nd half: A+