If you don’t understand the theory of evolution, this is a level and a stage; after understanding the theory of evolution, people know how to use the environment to transform themselves. At this time, its changes and development will be unlimited. So the smartest alien, he just wants to know whether the people on earth already know the theory of evolution.

Dawkins changed the theory of evolution from Darwin's original setting of individual evolution as the core, or even as the only research object, to a completely different level, which is to look at the phenomenon of evolution at the genetic level. , and maintains that all evolutionary phenomena originate from genes

Involving Dawkins's basic attitude, we need to go back to the most fundamentals to figure out: what is a living thing and what is life? Sperm is not a living thing, fertilized eggs are living things. The biggest difference between them is that fertilized eggs can start to divide. So at this level, the most basic phenomenon of so-called "living" lies in division and replication.

There is a second limitation or condition for duplication, which is to duplicate the same chemical composition. If it can be copied, and it will not twist and turn into something else when copied, and the A component is split and copied to become a new A component, the former A component is basically the same as the later split and copied A component. , that’s called life

What is a gene and how is it defined? It comes from the role of genes. From chemical composition A to copying the same chemical composition A, there must be a mechanism in between. We can imagine this mechanism. There is a set of blueprints here. This blueprint stipulates that the new individual produced by the subsequent replication will be mastered. This new chemical phenomenon will be basically the same as the previous phenomenon. Then write down this blueprint, and gain a special ability to control this process of division and replication. This information and these mechanisms together are called genes.

Gene control determines proteins, which are the main chemical components of life. All proteins have four types of signaling messages, which are the simplest base pairs. These bases are so simple that there are only 4 kinds, but such simple 4 kinds of bases form a base pair, but there are such a huge number of base pairs. Each base controls it and forms the chemical properties of the protein. signals and mechanisms, which makes people become such complex individuals.

The fittest does not refer to biological individuals, but to the simplest material and chemical phenomena. How does it replicate itself? Therefore, in the process of copying, those who can meet the three standards are the so-called fittest and can survive well. These three standards or basic principles are the basis for the theory of evolution that Richard Dawkins re-established.

Principle of the Fittest One: Stable Copy

Principle of the fittest three: copy quickly

Principle of the Fittest Two: Accurate Copy

These three conditions determine what a "selfish gene" is. Dawkins is talking about selfish genes. How are genes selfish? In fact, if we look at this selfish description logically, it is a circular argument (tautology): selfish genes refer to genes that can survive well; genes that can survive well must be selfish.

Why do you say it is selfish? Because if it does not have such conditions to protect itself and continue to reproduce itself, it will die and disappear, and it will not be able to become a successfully replicated chemical substance, and it will not be able to become a chemical substance at the genetic level. (genes) that can be passed on.

From the theory of individual evolution to the theory of gene evolution

Biological soup: the source of matter that produces life

James Watson was one of the most important discoverers of the double helix chromosome structure. But he is a person with a very wonderful and strong personality. He vividly explained how he discovered the structure of the double helix and how chromosomes are edited. We don’t have to accept all of his stories, but through his memories, we can understand that this was the most critical step in successfully solving biological mysteries in the 20th century.

What is also amazing is that as humans, we can so accurately grasp and understand the most fundamental structure of complex phenomena such as the composition of life, the composition of the earth, and the entire biological nature. This is a record of the operation of genes in different organisms, using cells as units, how genes are generated inside the cells, and then replicating the same cells completely according to the blueprint of the genes. This is a strictly controlled mechanism. There is RNA and DNA here, and at the same time we know all the chemical components and chemical effects. These four paired bases alone produce such a huge and complex human genetic inheritance phenomenon. After more than 100 years, many people have worked hard to figure out the mechanism of inheritance.

Because genes determine and control how cells replicate, how cells replicate, and how they are combined are all recorded in genes. Evolution can lead to a variety of different life phenomena, including the creation of new species, which was what Darwin was most concerned about. So how are new species created? Therefore, for Dawkins, a new species is a special life phenomenon, and all life phenomena are recorded and controlled in genes. So other than looking in genes, how can we find the answer elsewhere?

What Dawkins wants to construct is to rewrite the theory of evolution based on genetic determinism, which means that all evolutionary mechanisms, including the fundamental principles of evolution, are based on such a simple level of replication of genetic and chemical substances. In the previous episode The three principles introduced in the audio program - the more stable a chemical substance is, the better, the more accurately it can be copied, the faster it can be copied, and the more copies it can make, the better - three simple principles. So Dawkins relies on such simple three principles. Dawkins wants to re-teach the theory of evolution.

In the book "The Selfish Gene", he proposed a genetic reduction theory of evolution, and his key key lies in genetic evolution. Apart from that, there is nothing else. If you accept it, Dawkins will go further and tell you that the so-called theory of evolution is only the theory of genetic evolution.

Genes are the basis of evolution, this is the first formula

Genes control individual behavior

Mutual benefit or conflict between genes and individuals

Even if an accidental mutation produces altruistic traits, such behavior is unlikely to spread. In other words, we should not see altruistic behavior among normal and natural phenomena.

Social Darwinism tells us that we live in a world of competition and natural selection, so we must try our best to become the fittest. You have to win against other groups and other people, so that you can survive.

For Kropotkin, Social Darwinism particularly emphasized that it only applied to the animal kingdom, but there are still differences between humans and animals. The animal world is a competitive situation of the jungle, with the strong oppressing and eliminating all the weak; but this is not the case with humans. Humans rely on mutual assistance to produce culture. Only with culture can we transcend nature and control nature, so that we can use Plants and animals in nature serve as our resources

Kropotkin specifically mentioned the theory of mutual aid, which means that the animal kingdom is based on individuals as units, each competing to eliminate the weak, but humans are the strong helping the weak. Humans rely on each other to build civilization and use mutual assistance. , instead of competition, gave rise to civilization, made man the master of all things, and gave him an advantage over all other animals - in the popular concept of evolution.

As human beings, we rely on the collective, because we cooperate and help each other, we become strong. That means that as human beings, Kropotkin specifically asked us not to let ourselves degenerate and return to the state of animals.

This group, they live together with such a screaming mole and start to reproduce. What will happen during the reproduction process? You will find that because behavior is determined by internal genes, assuming there is an A gene here, the A gene will cause it to die early, but as long as its A gene enters this group before it screams and is captured and dies early, There will be individuals with A genes in this group. Basically, these A genes come from the original mutated mole. It sacrifices itself, but it creates the opportunity for other individuals with the same A gene in its body to survive more easily.

Among this group, it doesn't matter if it was captured because of its yelling behavior. There may be one-third of the same generation over there, one-quarter of the next generation, and one-eighth of the next generation. We add up all the probabilities that each individual may carry the A gene, and add up the probabilities of affected individuals who can get more chances to survive and reproduce because of it. When we add up, we find that, The sum of their chances of possessing the A gene is higher than 1

That means it doesn't matter if it dies. Because it is dead, but it can create a better chance of copying the A gene than it was when it was alive. So according to Dawkins' theory, such altruistic behavior is pure mathematics. What is so difficult to explain?

Because of such a right environment, this gene can effectively reproduce more. Although it appears to be sacrificing the individual who originally had this gene, when it sacrifices its own individual, it creates a group that can reproduce more effectively. Great opportunity, so this A gene will be able to create more individuals, and these individuals can use this method of raising alarms to give the group more opportunities for the A gene to reproduce.

Genes sacrifice the original individual, but create better reproduction opportunities for other individuals. In other words, if you look at the wrong level, you will look at the wrong principle - if what you see is the death and disappearance of individuals, then you cannot understand how altruistic behavior can continue to reproduce; but if what you see is genes, genes do not care about individuals at all. Whether it will disappear or not, the criterion for the quality of a gene is whether it can continue to replicate and reproduce effectively.

Dawkins argued that the reason why the theory of evolution cannot be transformed into strict evolution is because your eyes are dazzled by the appearance of these various phenomena. You don’t know that it is important to follow scientific methodology more strictly and faithfully.

If we are at the gene level, we can simplify the complex. Furthermore, if we are at the gene level, we can also have a very simple and ultimate formula to understand how genes are composed and how they operate. . Genes are meant to be copied. Whether they can be copied or not is the most fundamental and only criterion.

You input the genetic expressions, conditions, and operating methods of various existing evolutions into such a formula. In the end, as long as the materials you collect are accurate and correct, Just relying on selfish genes - genes can only use the environment and adapt to the environment to reproduce more efficiently - then we can predict the future.

For Dawkins, the really most critical competition is the competition that takes place where we can't see it, at the genetic level—no, even further, it's the competition on chemicals, and it's very fierce competition.

If you truly understand and apply the theory of evolution in the most scientific way, what you will see is that it is even more intense at the genetic level. How intense is the competition for genes? Every cell in each of us is the result of competition

Just you as an individual, everything is the result of severe gene competition and duplication. If some of your father's genes win, your father's genes can pass through you and have a higher chance of being passed on; on the other hand, if your mother's genes are in your individual body, if it is a loser, it will This means that its chance of replicating has been suppressed by competition from the genes from your father's side. This is another image that we need to be able to understand and understand about the selfish gene that Dawkins said.

On this issue, of course, it also involves that in nature, most of them are sexual reproduction. In fact, sexual reproduction is the most advantageous situation in the process of genetic reproduction. Because of its advantages, most of nature has sexual reproduction.

On the one hand, sexual reproduction can cope with various environmental changes and allow individuals to survive. Only after the individual survives can genes survive; but it also comes with a price. At what cost? Going back to the three principles of chemical substance replication mentioned earlier, the second principle is that the more accurate the replication, the better. But sexual reproduction makes replication less accurate. It is not that accurate, so when it encounters different environments, it can cope with it. There will not be a single external force that will wipe out all cells and all genes together. But because of this, it will not be a faithful, complete, exact and unchanging copy.

When the replication is not so accurate, the next generation will have various possibilities of genetic mixing, and more and more complex variables will be generated from generation to generation, which will cause hermaphroditism to produce complex genotypes. The combination of genes leaves a lot of room for evolution.

Dawkins put forward another important point when he wrote "The Selfish Gene". He believes that although sexual reproduction allows genes to have a relatively large space for change, such changes are not unlimited. He even believes that the basic evolution of human beings has probably reached the end.

Human evolution has reached a certain level of complexity. The most special thing is that we are no longer controlled by new genetic mutations to a considerable extent. The control and influence of genes on people here has reached its end, so the subsequent changes in people have more fundamental and important factors that compete with genes and even overwhelm them.

Dawkins made another huge contribution to the theory of evolution. He proposed that there are variables that are as huge as genes and determine human behavior changes and human behavior patterns. He called them "memes". .

As humans, we have our own standards. Our life span and time span are longer than those of cats and dogs. So in comparison, the life span of cats and dogs is more than ten years, and ours is decades, but our decades are not a natural scale, which means how long should living things live, and what kind of time scale should be used to compare this world relations

Today we have created a special state that is very rare or even unprecedented on earth, that is, people generally live to the limit of their lives before passing away. The matter of "aging" is constantly changing, because the length of our lives is constantly extending. The extension of human life span has even challenged our basic settings and basic views on the limits of human life.

In Western civilization, such a reaction has added special restrictions, that is, the story of "Genesis" in the Christian Bible, which has further made Westerners' view of time extremely limited for a long time. Because "Genesis" specifically describes God's creation of the heaven and the earth, and then continues to extend this genealogy from Adam and Eve.

How long is the tribulation? That is, the goddess scratches the stone with tulle once every 100 years until the stone is completely worn away by such actions. The total time is called one kalpa. In fact, this means infinite, which cannot really be calculated or even truly imagined. In fact, when it comes to calamity, that is the Indian view of time, which prevents you from using your own exact experience to experience time.

Under the influence of Newtonian mechanics, at this time, we have moved from an expanded sense of space to an expanded sense of time. The world we live in is definitely not like what the Bible Genesis says, which can be covered by thousands of years, so there is a new Only with the scale of time can there be room for evolution.

Evolution will not happen in the limited time of our human lifespan, or even in the few generations that we can clearly record. It will take hundreds of generations from more and longer time. produce

The earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago, and these 4.6 billion became a new large number. This is a very large time scale. Next, let’s look at the time when life may have appeared. It was 3.9 billion years ago. We continue to push forward on the fossils, so it means that life on the earth has gone through such a long time of 3.9 billion years.

The first effect is that once we restore such a scale, that is, the scale of evolution, it will be difficult for you to question what is impossible to happen under such a huge number of times and species. of? In such an environment, how can we logically and rationally exclude what things and phenomena are absolutely impossible to occur? Because it's so possible.

It is necessary to have such a scale cognition, coupled with the impact of the so-called formation of characteristics and the concept of characteristics in genetics on biological observation and analysis, Dawkins can use The genetic approach advocates the theory that all evolution occurs at the genetic level

A major breakthrough occurred with Gregor Johann Mendel. One of the most critical things about genetics that Mendel established is that it tells us that heredity is divided into different "traits", that is, characteristics; it is within the characteristics that At this level, we see the true role of heredity. In other words, you need to understand the genetic interaction between parents and offspring. You can’t just look at the relationship between individuals. You need to distinguish the different characteristics one after another in more detail.

There is no way to strictly define the characteristics or characteristics produced by an individual in the process of inheritance. We can only treat it as a unit genetically. We can see that, for example, whether your ears have earlobes is a characteristic; what your ears look like is also a characteristic.

In genetics, it is not just the scale of time that has expanded; further, the "concentration" and "intensity" of changes in time have also increased.

Now this imagination has been greatly expanded. Expand into what? Because not only the father and mother will affect the offspring, but the offspring will continue to reproduce. In the process of reproduction, the original individual or a pair of individuals will become numerous individuals. These individuals will change from one generation to the next. Its genetic characteristics are constantly changing

There begins to be a gene that allows the previous generation to work hard to take care of and feed the next generation. Such a gene will have a chance to exist in the body of the offspring including 1/2 of the gene due to the efforts of the parent individuals. So, This gene will have a better chance of being passed on.

Different organisms and different behaviors can be explained by how to reproduce and how to retain genes. Why do parents treat their children well? Also, why are children so kind to their brothers and sisters? So it is easy to explain. It is because parents are good to their children, and their children have 1/2 of the same genes as them. Brothers and sisters of the offspring cooperate with each other, because brothers and sisters all have 1/4 of the same genes. Pushing forward further, if there are cousins ​​among relatives, then 1/8 or 1/16 of the genes are the same.

So from a genetic perspective, relatives cooperate with each other and take care of each other, so that the common genes can be preserved and reproduce.

What’s more interesting is that maybe someone will notice the aesthetics of many people. Look at who thinks this person is good-looking or not. One of the criteria is without exception. Basically, people who look like you will be more good-looking to you. How did this come about?

Selfish genes could also explain what we thought were cultural phenomena in humans

The theory of evolution basically involves looking back and inferring what happened in the beginning based on subsequent results. Here is where the basis of large numbers plays the most important role, changes over hundreds of millions of years, billions of years, millions of generations, generation to generation. Therefore, different traits (traits) have genes interacting with each other. In the process, the cumulative number is not even 1.35 million times, but almost infinite times. When you see the results reflected by such probabilities

The key to a selfish gene is whether it can replicate more efficiently. If you are particularly good to your brother's child, he has another variable, because in the original group, you actually have no way to clearly identify that this child is indeed your brother, that is, he does have the same characteristics as you. Gene. Therefore, even if such a child is under the influence of this gene, he may have a better chance of reproducing, but during reproduction, he may not necessarily have the same genes as this individual.

Can we explain why organisms have evolved such different reproductive behaviors during the process of reproduction and reproduction? Every different link, if you look at it backwards, is determined by the probability of copying.

If there is another genetically controlled characteristic that makes this individual endure the territory as long as there is no way to seize it, it will lose the urge to mate. What good would that do? Let him be patient, raise himself up and strong in the process, and wait there until the male individual who occupies the territory cannot maintain his territory due to any factors. At this time, he will have the opportunity to fight for it. , can be replaced, and in replacing it it resumes its urge to mate. For such a gene, compared to the previous genes that secretly mate, we can imagine that after long-term and continuous accumulation of experiments, these two genes will be distinguished. The differences in mating behavior and mating patterns can be explained at the genetic level.

The reason why fish maximizes the number of offspring is because fish do not devote any resources to raising and caring for them. According to its genes, the only way to reproduce is to maximize the number. Millions of eggs meet millions of sperm, thus hatching tens of thousands of small fish. However, without any care, most of these small fish will probably not be able to become adults, that is, they will not be able to grow up and have the opportunity to continue to reproduce.

The extreme case is the case of human beings, who bet almost everything on the effectiveness of their upbringing. There are such genes that control human behavior, and the greatest and most meticulous care is devoted to individuals who possess 1/2 of your genes. After investing in it, there will be a decisive gap between you and the fish.

When it comes to fish, all investments must be made to produce the most eggs, and quantity is used to ensure that the gene can continue to reproduce. In humans, fewer fetuses are born, but a large amount of resources are put into raising them, which lengthens the raising process, allowing humans to develop the most complex brains that consume the most energy. The biggest benefit brought by the brain is that the individual that grows up is minimally restricted and affected by the environment, can adapt to the most different environments, and can continue to reproduce.

First of all, there must be a considerable number of offspring. The focus is not on how many children are born, but how many individuals can be raised that can continue to reproduce the genes. This is what we really need to calculate when looking at the population.

Second, from the perspective of genetic reproduction, the focus is on genes that restrict fertility, which can reduce or even terminate the production of individuals, but are conducive to the reproduction of the genes themselves.

Under the same environmental resource conditions, if the number of individuals increases, the effect of hormones will decrease, so the group will not increase so many individuals. If there are too many individuals and they compete with each other for resources, eventually all these individuals may die one after another because they cannot get enough resources, and such genes will not be passed on. In contrast, this kind of gene can limit hormones when the number of individuals is too large, so the number of individuals produced subsequently decreases, maintaining a balance between individuals and environmental resources. This kind of gene has a better chance. spread down

The earth has experienced large-scale and long-term extinctions of species. That is to say, the earth's environment is actually very unstable from a species perspective. Different regions may experience rapid changes in reproductive resources at any time under the influence of climate and other conditions.

The genes for sexual reproduction are quite effective at this. Because although it consumes a lot of resources related to reproduction, in the process, it produces the most powerful way to combat this danger of extinction, which is to produce diversity.

Because of this advantage, in the end if there is no hermaphrodite reproduction, it will be easily extinct in the process of environmental changes, so other parthenogenetic organisms are basically extinct. So it seems that there are only these creatures left on the earth that mainly rely on the hermaphrodite mode of reproduction.

That evolution not only produced hermaphrodite reproduction, but also further distinguished males and females, which in turn produced a high degree of consistency. Why is it that during the process of reproduction, instead of the two individuals of the parent dividing cells and then combining cells in roughly the same way, there is a high degree of imbalance? Why are there females? Why are there males?

This must have a high degree of advantage in gene reproduction. Because the larger the cell, the higher the chance of its own survival; the smaller the cell, the fewer its own resources it carries, but the chance that it can enter another cell and combine with this cell increases. On the one hand, the time and chance of independent survival are increased, and on the other hand, the chance of being able to combine with another cell is increased.

This must be paired together - on the one hand, cells are getting bigger and slower, but have more resources; on the other hand, cells are getting smaller and smaller, so the same resources can produce more cells, and these cells have more resources. With a large amount of activity, it can penetrate into another cell and combine with another cell - these two characteristics must exist at the same time; once these two characteristics exist at the same time, it will produce an incomparable effect. In this way, the genes on both sides complement each other and have the best chance to reproduce. After matching, the gene that can produce larger cells is a good gene, and the gene that can produce extremely small germ cells also becomes a good gene. When these two genes are paired, they become an invincible super gene pair.

Therefore, under the influence of various environments in Tarantula, coupled with millions of generations and hundreds of millions of years, the reproductive behavior caused by males and females is the easiest for genes to reproduce, so that it seems that all the people in the world There are so many different creatures, but their underlying unity is sexual reproduction.

Moderate, medium-sized reproductive cells are relatively the most disadvantaged in such a changing environment. Because both directions of getting bigger and smaller have gained advantages in gene replication, some of the germ cells became smaller and more active, producing what we call male germ cells today; the other part made The cells become larger, can store more nutrients, and last longer, thus becoming female reproductive cells.

The combination of changes in these two directions makes the original fixed size in the middle lose its advantage, so this phenomenon is replaced and eliminated. We can use this method to understand why most of today’s nature uses hermaphrodite reproduction to reproduce the next generation.

Furthermore, because of the differences in reproductive cells, there are males and females, so how males and females can reproduce their genes. This involves what Dawkins is most interested in, which is the analysis and discussion strategy. He especially likes to invoke "Game Theory" (Game Theory) to explain this part.

Participation in the game under the game theory does not mean that the sperm and egg "consciously" choose something, but that there are different chances of occurrence under various possibilities, and the different chances of occurrence affect the number of children that can be produced. This leads to differences in strategies

You have to pay a cost to raise an heir. If you have a 5% chance of retaining your genes, you have to pay a price, including providing food, taking care of the children, and even taking risks. If we think of this as minus 20 units - that's the cost, how much you pay to pass on your genes.

If a female requires a male to invest in her, protect her and help her raise her offspring, the male must pass the test of such a pursuit before the female is willing to mate with him. In this way, an ideal one-female-one-male situation occurs, that is, monogamous relationship

In this way, to raise an offspring, their average cost of raising this child is minus 20, so each person is minus 10; plus the cost of long-term pursuit, it is set to minus 3; its genes can be in the offspring Generations of replication, this is positive 15 - so in the final calculation, the number of each individual obtained is positive 2, which also means that the original genetic foundation of this group can be maintained, because from a genetic point of view, if organisms use In this way, its genetics can continue to be passed on