They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence. They have come a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Dawkins describes genes as the fundamental replicators that built human bodies and minds to ensure their own survival.
- In plain terms
- We exist to keep genes alive, not the other way around.
- What can you take from it?
- Genes are the primary entities seeking survival through us.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who serves whom in biology?
- What is the purpose of life?
Another view
Humans also act for cultural or personal goals beyond genes.
More from Richard Dawkins
Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have a chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has …
Permalink to quote #16 No doubt some of your cousins and great-uncles died in childhood, but not a single one of your ancestors did. Ancestors just don't die young!
Permalink to quote #18 Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.
Permalink to quote #15
Related quotes
We are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. This is a truth which still fills me with astoni…
Richard DawkinsRichard Dawkins quote #13 Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have a chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has …
Richard DawkinsRichard Dawkins quote #16 If an organised body is not in the situation and circumstances best adapted to its sustenance and propagation, then, in conceiving an indefinite variety among …
James HuttonJames Hutton quote #1