ABSTRACT
Richard Dawkins's central argument in The Selfish Gene was that the gene is the only possible basic unit of natural selection, because genes can copy themselves and be, to all intents and purposes, immortal until all copies die out. In contrast, neither individuals nor groups of them are directly subject to evolution by means of natural selection. It is the frequency of adaptive traits (like a long neck, or white fur) that changes. Dawkins explored how natural selection of genes can account for complex social behaviors and adaptations that appear to be hindrances for individual organisms but which actually serve the gene. Dawkins opened his central argument in The Selfish Gene with a discussion of the history of life. He explored the notion of an early replicator, a simple molecule that could reproduce itself, and described how copying mistakes could have resulted in the natural selection of particular replicators with positive attributes.
