There are (at least) two ways of understanding evolution and making predictions about the kinds of things that it produces. The first focuses on the organism, and says things like, “we expect evolution to produce organisms that are good at reproducing.” This is the high school biology level of understanding natural selection. The second focuses on the gene, and says things like, “we expect evolution to produce genes that are good at replicating.” This is closer to reality and further from (y)our intuitions.
I highly recommend The Selfish Gene for an explanation of the gene-centered view of evolution. This book cleared up much of my own confusion, and answered a bunch of questions that I had, coming from an organism-centric perspective. Questions like these:
“Why don’t the antelopes turn around and eat the lions?”
“Why is there ‘junk’ DNA?”
“Why do elephants run out of teeth, and then starve to death?”
It’s also an enjoyable read and full of citations and experimental results.
There are (at least) two ways of understanding evolution and making predictions about the kinds of things that it produces. The first focuses on the organism, and says things like, “we expect evolution to produce organisms that are good at reproducing.” This is the high school biology level of understanding natural selection. The second focuses on the gene, and says things like, “we expect evolution to produce genes that are good at replicating.” This is closer to reality and further from (y)our intuitions.
I highly recommend The Selfish Gene for an explanation of the gene-centered view of evolution. This book cleared up much of my own confusion, and answered a bunch of questions that I had, coming from an organism-centric perspective. Questions like these:
“Why don’t the antelopes turn around and eat the lions?”
“Why is there ‘junk’ DNA?”
“Why do elephants run out of teeth, and then starve to death?”
It’s also an enjoyable read and full of citations and experimental results.