Goodreads书评：《自私的基因》（The Selfish Gene，理查德·道金斯著）

五星，Alex，46岁，波士顿，2014

His basic idea is that the essential unit of life is the gene; our bodies are just big fleshy protection robots for the gene. Dawkins says I'm a tool. Right? High five!

他的主旨就是：生命的基本单位是基因；我们的皮囊不过是保护基因的大型人肉机器人。道金斯说过，我是一个工具。不是吗？击掌！

And you might be like "Okay, so who cares?" What difference does that make, right? Well, first of all I'm gonna go have some pie because fuck you, genes, you're not the boss of me. Woohoo! Other than that, no, no difference, carry on. It makes a difference to scientists, because when you look at it this way all kinds of behaviors make more sense, or make sense in a different way. Dawkins' particular focus is on behaviors we call "altruistic", like when an antelope warns his herd about an approaching lion. Dawkins would like to go through every altruistic behavior he can think of, which is a lot, and show you why it's actually not at all altruistic.

而你可能会在心里说，“好吧，不过谁在乎啊？”这又能带来什么改变呢？不是吗？好了，我要先去吃点馅饼了，原因就是去你的基因，你可不是我的老板。哦耶！除此以外没有任何差别，继续。该主旨影响到了科学家群体，因为如果你以这样的角度去看待现象，那各种类型的行为就更加合理了，或是在另一个语境中变得更加合理了。道金斯格外关注的是被我们称为“利他”的行为，像是一只羚羊会警告羚羊群有一只狮子正在靠近。道金斯希望能把他能想到的每一种利他行为都进行一番拆解，他可是拆解了好多种，并且向你说明了为什么这些行为其实根本不属于利他。

(The antelope is an easy one: he warns the herd by jumping up and down, which doubles as a sign to the lion that he is super bouncy and the lion should go chase someone less bouncy.)

（羚羊的“利他”很容易理解：它是靠上蹿下跳来警告它的羚羊群的，但这同时也向那头狮子发出了一个信号，也即它的弹跳力超级好，所以那头狮子应该去追那些弹跳力不如它的羚羊）
五星，Orhan Pelixovic，黑山共和国，2020

The Selfish Gene (1976) is exactly how I prefer my non-fiction science books to be written. Richard Dawkins is clear, stays on topic, and explains the necessary details and complexities using simple everyday life examples. Dawkins, is entertaining, and gives you a hand when you get lost in his genetic pool analysis.

《自私的基因》（1976）的写法，正是我所偏爱的那种非小说类科学读物该有的。道金斯文笔清晰，紧扣主题，并且用日常生活中的例子对必要的细节和错综复杂之处作了解释。道金斯的文字让人愉悦，而且当你迷失在他的基因库分析时，他会拉你一把的。

His writing talks to me. His argumentation challenge and encourage me to think and feel that I am gaining knowledge. It's a rewarding read. The author discusses the plants, animals, and humans selfish gene and their evolution by means of natural sextion. There is no moral of the story as morals are not considered in the natural sextion process.

他的文字会同我展开交谈。他的论证挑战了我（的既有认知），并激发我去思考，还让我感觉自己正在收获新知。这是一本能让人收获满满的读物。作者讨论了植物、动物和人类的自私基因，以及它们在自然选择机制下的演化。这个故事无关道德，因为在自然选择的进程中是不考虑道德的。

What roll did natural sextion have on primordial Earth? It sexted to retain the stable forms of molecules and throw out the unstable forms. During the same period, simple replicating molecules were present with a capability to replicate themselves. Today we have a far more sophisticated self-replicating molecule, containing a complex recipe, called the DNA. Such stable molecules started to compete with one another in a struggle for existence. In order to increase their chances of survival and reproduction, these stable replicating molecules built machines for survival in which they would be accommodated. Those stable molecules today are our genes, and the machines for their survival, our bodies.

自然选择在远古地球上起到了怎样的作用？它选择了保持稳定的分子形态，并抛弃了各种不稳定的形态。在同一时期中，出现了具有自我复制能力的简单分子。今天的我们拥有复杂得多且能自我复制的分子，其中包含一个复杂的配方，被称为基因。这种稳定的分子，开始为了生存而投入到互相竞争的斗争中。为了增加它们的生存和复制几率，这些能自我复制的稳定分子为了生存下去打造出了各种（生物）机器，能让它们容身于其中。到今天，这些稳定的分子便是我们的基因了，而它们赖以生存的（生物）机器便是我们的身体。

What is a selfish gene? The selfish gene is a short or rather small piece of a chromosome that lasts for many generations and has an extremely low probability to split up. It collaborates well with other genes and does not allow anything to penetrate it. The long lasting life of the selfish gene makes it an important unit of evolution by means of natural sextion, and the replicating molecule (gene) a fundamental unit of natural sextion.

自私的基因是什么呢？自私的基因是染色体上一个很短的小片段，它延续了很多很多代，分裂的几率也极低。它和其他基因协作良好，也不会允许任何东西穿透它。自私基因的长寿能让它在自然选择机制下成为一个重要的演化单位，而可自我复制的分子（即基因）是自然选择的基本单位。

The selfish gene created us to be self-centered and not altruistic. Our genes created us for their well-being and to fight for their survival and reproduce them through procreation. The selfish gene in living organisms is concerned for itself and individual in which they are housed. Therefore, our genes have a more egocentric approach for self-survival rather than an altruistic one that would benefit the group. Altruism is not the most stable evolutionary strategy for the genes and individuals, unless reciprocal altruism is at hand that would benefit each variety (of course there are exceptions). Parental altruism towards children can be viewed as genes investing in themselves as their genes are now found in their offspring. That is why it is important to teach altruism to our children, as it doesn't necessarily come naturally.

这种自私的基因把我们打造成了以自我为中心而非利他的存在。我们的基因是为了自身的福祉而打造出我们的，这也是为了它们自己的生存在奋斗，为了借由（我们的）生育来复制它们。生物体中的自私基因顾念的只有自己和它们栖居的个体。因此，我们的基因为了自己的生存，所用的更多是一种利己的路数，它可不是会助益所在群体的利他主义个体。对基因和个体来说，利他主义可不是最稳健的演化策略，除非这种互惠互利的利他主义即刻就能化用，且能给每一个族类带去好处（当然了，还是会存在例外的）。父母对自己孩子的利他主义行为，可以看成基因给自己投资，因为如今他们的基因存留在他们后代的身上了。这就是为什么把利他主义教授给我们的孩子很重要，因为利他这种东西不一定是天生的。

But our brain has developed up to a point that we are in a position to reject or rebel against our own selfish gene. Many people choose not to have children or use contraceptives and this way disobey the selfish gene. Others sacrifice themselves for the benefit of a group, for an ideal or a cause. In one chapter we see how a "meme" (idea or behavior), a unit of culture, acts as a replicator that is transmitted from individual to individual.

但我们的大脑已经演化到了这种程度，即我们已经能抗拒或是反抗们自己的自私基因了。很多人选择不要孩子，或是使用避孕用品，如此便违抗了自私的基因。还有一些人为了集体的福祉，为了某种理想或事业牺牲了自己。其中一个章节写到一个“meme（即理念或行为，属于文化单位）”是如何发挥复制器作用，在个体之间完成传播的。

Since humans are conscious beings and aware that a future exists, it gives us the power to simulate and plan ahead. Also, we have written accounts of the past events - history. I would certainly hope that with our increasing knowledge about our genes, our finer capability of forecasting, and written history from different points of view, can act as tools to help us find a better balance between the common good of a society and the individuals interest i.e. balancing altruism and selfishness.

由于人类是有意识的生命，也能意识到自己在未来的存在，这就赋予了我们模仿和提前计划的能力。而且，我们把过去发生的事件记录下来了，也就是历史。我当然希望，随着我们不断加深对自己基因的了解，我们更精微的预测能力外加各种不同视角下以文字记录的历史，能成为我们的工具，以帮助我们在社会的共同利益和个人利益之间找到更理想的平衡点，比如说，平衡好利他主义和利己主义。
五星，Nandakishore Varma，男，57岁，印度，2011

Dawkins starts the book with the question “Why are people?” This is his answer – so that the gene can survive and replicate. We are nothing but vehicles for the genes, who exist to ensure their survival.

道金斯以“为什么是人”这个问题来开篇，而这就是他的回答：这样基因就能生存乃至复制了。我们不过就是这些基因的载体，而我们存在的意义就在于确保它们能生存下去。

Pretty disillusioning, isn’t it? But Dawkins is far from done. After pulling down humanity from its pedestal as the “pinnacle of creation”, he proceeds to explain all the lofty sentiments such as love, altruism, sacrifice etc. as the result of strategies for gene survival – extremely selfish strategies at that. It is very difficult to stomach for a generation which has been trained to behold human beings as somehow special, and the above sentiments as the proof of their exclusivity which separate them from the “lower” animals. As one disgusted poster said in one of the fora where this book was discussed: “So altruism is like going to the potty? Oh dear!”

挺让人幻灭的，对吧？但道金斯想说的可远不止这些呢。在把人类从“顶级创造物”的崇高地位上拉下来后，他继续对所有崇高的情感作了解释，比如爱、利他、牺牲等等，认为它们都是基因生存策略的产物，这还真是极端自私的策略呢。对这一代人（他们受过这样的训练，会莫名地把人类视为特殊的存在，并把上述这些情感看成人类独一无二的证据，正是这种独一无二把人类和“低等”动物分开了）来说，这是很难消化的。正如某位嫌弃这本书的发帖者在某个讨论这本书的论坛里所说的：“所以利他行为和上茅房没啥区别？天呐！”

But even though disheartening at first, as Dawkins begins to back up his arguments with solid scientific reasoning, it is difficult to dispute him, and difficult not to get excited when he presents his theory with mathematical precision.

但就算一上来会让人垂头丧气，但随着道金斯开始用坚实可靠的科学论证来支撑他的论点，你会发现想要质疑他是很困难的，而当他用数学上的精确性来呈示他的理论时，想要不心潮澎湃也是很难的。

One of the most common arguments put forward against evolution is that an uncontrolled state of aggression will lead to a free-for-all and the “stable” environment we see cannot exist. Dawkins explains this with the concept of an ESS (Evolutionary Stable Strategy), which leads to a dynamic equilibrium or homeostasis: he posits a theoretical society populated by pure aggressors (“hawks”) and pure pacifists (“doves”), and proves logically that over a period of time, the number of hawks and doves will stabilise in roughly equal proportion. This is because it is not the survival machines which are having the final say on who will win: it is the genes. This concept is further expanded with fine variations on the behavior – ultimately, every time, a dynamically stable configuration results.

反对进化论的其中一个最常见的论据就是：不受控制的攻击性状态会引发一场混战，而我们所见的这种“稳定”的环境是不可能存在的。道金斯对此的解释用到了ESS（即进化稳定策略）的概念，这种策略会促成一种动态平衡或是内稳态：他设想出了一个由纯粹的侵略者（“鹰”）和纯粹的反战者（“鸽”）构成的社会，并以合乎逻辑的方式证明了，只要假以时日，鹰和鸽的数量将会稳定在大致相等的比例上。这是因为哪边会赢最终不是由这些生存机器决定的，而是由这些基因决定的。而行为上的细微变化会进一步拓展这个概念，也即：最终，每次都会产生一个动态稳定的配置。
四星，Brian Hodges，43岁，纽约，2008

Although I consider myself a Jesus-loving, god-fearing, creationist, I simply LOVE reading about evolution. I'm not sure what it is, but I find the whole concept, when explained by a lucid and accessible author, fascinating. And Dawkins is nothing if not lucid and accessible. He presents the topic and various questions and scientific controversies in a way that anybody with a willingness to pay attention can follow it. Dawkins sure knows his way around language too. One of my favorite lines is: "Sex: that bizarre perversion of straightforward replication."

虽然我自认为是一个热爱耶稣、敬畏上帝的神创论者，但我就是很喜欢读有关进化论的书。我也不清楚是什么原因，但我发现，当把这整套概念交由一个说话清晰易懂的作者来诠释时，还是很引人入胜的。而且道金斯的文字还真就是这么清晰易懂。他介绍这个主题、各种问题以及相关科学争论的方式，愿意集中注意力的人都跟得上。当然了，道金斯在语言文字上也是有自己的一套的。其中一句我最喜欢的话是：“性是基于直截了当的复制而发生的一种怪异的变态。”

Altruism

利他主义

When we are talking of genes, we are talking of gene pools here: a group of genes working together so that the survival of each is maximised. Dawkins makes a brilliant analogy to a rowing team. If a coach is choosing a team, he would over a period end up with a group who can pull in such a way that the winning chance is maximised – an individual rower, however brilliant he is, would find no place in the team if he did not contribute to the group effort. In the case of genes, natural sextion plays the role of the coach. Those genes which could not co-operate simply get discarded in the evolutionary race over a period of time.

我们谈到基因时，谈论的其实是基因库，也即一组基因通力协作，以此最大化每一个基因的生存几率。道金斯用赛艇队作出了一个绝妙的类比。如果一个教练正在选拔一支队伍，假以时日，最后他能选出一支胜率最大化的队伍，单个的桨手，无论他有多优秀，如果他无法在团队协作中贡献力量，队伍中就不会有他的一席之地。在基因的案例中，自然选择发挥的就是教练的作用。在演化的竞赛中，那些不具备协作能力的基因在一段时间内就会直接被抛弃。

Memes
The concept of the ‘meme’ is possibly the most revolutionary one expressed in this book. Dawkins defines a meme as a unit of cultural transmission, a basic idea which gets replicated in human brains, in the ‘prim soup’ of human culture; which, according to him, is in the same state as the biological ‘soup’ was at the dawn of life on earth. To quote the author himself:

在他书中谈及的概念中，“meme”可能是最具颠覆性的一个了。道金斯把meme定义为文化传播的一个单位，是能在人脑中完成复制的人类文化“原始汤”中的一种基本理念，根据他的说法，这种文化“汤”所处的状态，和地球生命迎来曙光时的那团生物“汤”是一样的。

Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.

meme可以是曲调、想法、流行的口号、流行的服装、制壶或建造拱门的法门。就像基因库中的基因通过精子或卵子从一个皮囊跳转到另一个皮囊完成自我增殖一样，meme也能经由某个过程从一个大脑跳转到另一个大脑来完成自我增殖，这个过程从广义上讲，可以说成是模仿。

According Dawkins, all prent ideas (including the idea of God!) is a meme: the meme survives because it has a survival value in the meme pool. If we subscribe to this idea, the whole intellectual arena is nothing but a group of memes grappling for survival – not a very edifying thought. It seems Dawkins appreciates this, because he ends the chapter on memes with the speculation that man has the capacity for genuine, disinterested, true altruism. He says “We are built as gene machines and cultured as meme machines, but we have the power to turn against our creators. We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators.”

根据道金斯的说法，所有大肆流行的想法（包括上帝这种想法）都是一种meme：某种meme能留存下来，是因为meme库中的它有留存下来的价值。如果我们悦纳了这个想法，那整个智识竞技场就不过是一群meme为了活下去而展开厮斗的地方了，这么去想的话不会很让人愉快的。貌似道金斯还挺赞赏这种想法的，因为他是用这样一种推测来完结有关meme的章节的：人类有能力践行真正意义上的无私的利他主义。他说过，“我们被打造成了基因机器，也被培养成了meme机器，但我们握有反对我们创造者的力量。孤栖于地球上的我们，有能力反抗自私成性的基因复制器的专横行径。”

I, as a fan of the Jungian idea of the Collective Unconscious, could not help speculating on whether the meme could be embedded way down in the gene itself? Maybe the Collective Unconscious is nothing but little bits of consciousness, embedded inside the DNA, which guided the process of survival? If so, it could be case for Intelligent Design – or rather, Intelligent Evolution.

我是荣格“集体无意识”学说的粉丝，我不禁会去思索：作一番回溯的话，meme 有没有可能嵌入了基因本身？也许集体无意识不过是嵌入了DNA的意识中很小的一部分，由其引导着生存的进程？如果是这样，那可能就属于智慧设计（即神创）了，更确切地说，属于智慧演化。
一星，Nathan，45岁，北卡，2007

Didactic, patronizing, condescending and arguably neo-intellectual twaddle. I do not believe in a God, certainly not any God that's been conceived by man, but I also believe Richard Dawkins is a self-satisfied thought-Nazi who is as fundamental in his view of religion as any right-wing minister. Fundamentalists of all faiths scare me, and atheism is just as much a faith as any religion. The existence or non-existence of a God cannot be proven, nor can the existence or non-existence of a soul, and faith is an abstract experience with implications that are fundamentally unresponsive to study. As such, pursuits like Dawkins' often boil down to one type of faith (in "reason") vs. another type of faith (in a "God"). Many people love Dawkins. He is certainly intelligent, and writes as such, but he lacks wisdom and imagination. To me, that's the flaw in all of his work, from The Selfish Gene to The God Delusion. The idea that one human being can know enough about the nature of the universe to make the sweeping declarations Dawkins' makes is preposterous to me.

过于说教，自诩清高，态度上还居高临下，可以认为是新式知识分子的鬼扯。我不信神，当然也不相信人类想象出的任何一尊神，但同时我也相信道金斯是一个自鸣得意的思想纳粹，他看待宗教的原教旨程度，和任何一位右翼部长没有区别。所有宗教信仰中的原教旨主义者都让我害怕，而无神论和任何一种宗教一样，都是一种信仰。神的存在或不存在都是无法证明的，灵魂的存在或不存在也是无法证明的，而信仰是一种抽象的体验，信仰状态可能带来的影响就是：基本上不为研究结果所动。以此观之，道金斯的这种追求，往往能归结为一种信仰（相信“理性”）和另一种信仰（相信“神”）的较量。有很多人喜欢道金斯。毫无疑问，他聪明得很，而且他的文字也透着股聪明劲儿，但他欠缺智慧和想象力。在我看来，这是他所有作品的通病，从《自私的基因》到《上帝的错觉》，都是如此。对我来说，去相信“一个人对宇宙本质的了解，深到能作出道金斯那种以偏概全的论断”就挺可笑的。

（译注：《上帝的错觉》为道金斯继《自私的基因》之后轰动西方世界的巨著，以科学人文观剖析了宗教的由来及对人类思想的禁锢和欺骗，道金斯因本书的颠覆性观念被西方宗教人士称为撒旦的化身）
一星，Cory，韩国，2012

In the indispensable words of my university genetics professor, "buy the book, read it, burn the book and then burn down the book story where you bought it. Dawkins write absolute rubbish that he uses neither for the betterment of science or humanity, but for his own personal vendetta against creationists and the church." Great summary of the book.

评价这本书时，怎么能少了我大学里那位遗传学教授的话呢，他说“买下这本书，阅读之，烧掉这本书，然后再放火烧掉你买到这本书的那家书店。道金斯写出来的是彻头彻尾的垃圾，他既没有用这些垃圾改善科学，也没有用它们改良人类，而是冲着神创论者和教会报他的私仇去了。”
这话是对这本书的绝妙总结。