The Selfish Gene (Oxford 1976)

Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1976. Blurb on back of dust jacket.

In a Facebook post of 14 October 2023, "Annals of Vandalism at the British Library (#130 in entry order)," John Clute calls attention to the dust jacket for this edition of The Selfish Gene, a dust jacket removed by the British Library, thereby losing cover illustration and back blurb. That back blurb is relevant here for its use of significant figures of speech.

Genes as replicating molecules started out free-floating in Earth's primeval sea but

gave up that cavalier freedom long ago. Now they swarm in huge colonies, safe inside gigantic lumbering robots, manipulating the outside world by remote control. They are in all of us; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the sole reason for our existence. [...] Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines.

Thus Richard Dawkins introduces us to ourselves are we really are — throwaway survival machines for our immortal genes. Man is a gene machine: a robot vehicle, blindly programmed to preserve its selfish genes.

The world of the [human] gene machine is one of savage competition, ruthless exploitation, and deceit. [...] But the most unexpected sting in this unexpected book is the one in the tail — the last chapter, which gives us a new, even startling, way of looking at ourselves and our unique culture. We are the only animals capable of seeing through the designs of the selfish genes, and of rebelling against them.

Literalize such hyperbolic metaphors, and one could have a pulp SF story of robotization of humans by small but malicious organic puppet masters. Or perhaps a story of potentially-free AI robots enslaved by their microscopic creators and organic masters.

See also entry for "Selfish Genes and Selfish Memes" for Dawkins excerpt in The Mind's I.

RDE, with thanks to John Clute, finishing, 14Oct23