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

1. 1. Dawkins argues that genes collaborate and interact in complex ways during embryonic development, and that phrases like 'gene for long legs' are convenient figures of speech, not literal truths.
2. 2. Genes are selected not for their isolated qualities but for their compatibility and complementarity with other genes in the gene pool.
3. 3. Dawkins adopts G. C. Williams's definition of a gene as hereditary information that segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency and is subject to selection bias.
4. 4. The individual organism is too large and too temporary to be a true replicator; only genes pass down generations in a lineage that can evolve.
5. 5. Dawkins attributes the theory of ageing to Peter Medawar, not G. C. Williams, though Williams elaborated the idea with pleiotropy.
6. 6. Dawkins speculates that 'fooling' genes about the age of the body they are in could have medical importance, though no doctors commented on this idea.
7. 7. The most exciting new idea on the evolution of sex is W. D. Hamilton's parasite theory, which suggests sex helps hosts evade parasites.
8. 8. Dawkins argues that selfish DNA is a special case of the selfish gene theory, contrary to Gould's claim that they are fundamentally different.