    2

    The Theory of Individual Selection...And Its Flaws

    Richard Dawkins theory is a powerful tool for cracking the

    mysteries of the cosmos.  But it has a limitation.  In reality, genes were

    never the loners  Dawkins makes them out to be.  Though the Oxford

    don labels them "selfish," even he is forced to admit that genes were

    compelled to coagulate in teams, just as their minions--from termites to

    humans--would later be.

    Current evolutionary theory, known technically as "neo-

    Darwinism," says that preservation of his genes is the first priority of

    the individual--preservation for himself, his children, and for his

    remaining relatives.  And as the examples in previous chapters show,

    when it comes to children, at least, that view is largely right.  Yet it is

    missing something vital in the human experience.  When Rudolph

    Valentino died, numerous women committed suicide.1    Survival  for

    themselves and their immediate families was the last thing on their

    mind.

    Underlying the notion of genetic selfishness is another, even

    more basic assumption--the theory of individual selection.  When it

    comes to picking and pruning, says this concept, evolution sorts

    creatures one at a time.  Hence the most potent impulse in the makeup

    of every micro and macro beast is the drive for personal survival.

    But somewhere deep inside, each of us knows that individual

    survival is not his only raison d'être.  So thoroughly is that fact built into

    us that we find it in our physical structure.  We come complete at birth

    with an arsenal of survival weapons.  But we're also equipped with

    devices that can negate our existence.  These are our self-destruct

    mechanisms.

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