The Selfish Gene: 40th Anniversary edition (Oxford Landmark Science) — The replicators

1. 1. Dawkins uses the origin of life to illustrate the concept of self-replicating genetic entities, not to endorse a specific theory.
2. 2. The biblical prophecy of a virgin birth stems from a mistranslation of the Hebrew word 'almah' (young woman) to Greek 'parthenos' (virgin).
3. 3. Dawkins' description of humans as 'gigantic lumbering robots' is often misconstrued as genetic determinism, but he argues that robots can be creative and learning.
4. 4. Critics misquote Dawkins by replacing 'created' with 'controlled' to accuse him of genetic determinism, but genes do not control their creations.