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A comment on Ask HN: Do 'selfish genes' explain Galapagos birds etc.?.

Re:Ask HN: Do 'selfish genes' explain Galapagos birds etc.? by sockpuppet_12 on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @07:07PM (#29817162)
Genes themselves aren't sentient or self aware, they themselves don't want anything, they can't be described as feeling purpose or direction.

DNA is an inert chemical chain encoded with linear and non linear data which is acted upon and maintained by nano machines manufactured with the instructions it contains, which do you think came first?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Do 'selfish genes' explain Galapagos birds etc.? by JoeAltmaier on Friday January 07, 2022 @06:01PM (#29846137)
Yes I was using anthropomorphic phrasing to describe what are surely statistical arguments only.

That distinction is at the heart of my question in fact. Gene's don't care about the host survivability per se; they are only concerned with the gene's own survival. Thus the question: can courtship displays be considered as important for species selection? Or are they just parasitic gene expression for the statistical advantage of that gene?

[ Parent | on HN ]