Chapter 2: The Replicators (Page 12-20)

In chapter 2 Dawkins explains his theory of the beginning of life and how Darwinism is applied. He believed it all starts very simply and then it becomes more complex. Dawkins said that the most stable things are those who stay. Therefore instead of being 'the survival of the fittest' it is 'the survival of the stable'. He describes the Haemoglobin molecule to illustrate the principle that atoms tend to fall into stable patterns . Therefore, he concludes that "the earliest form of natural selection was simply a selection of stable forms and a rejection of unstable ones"(page 13).

So then after a long, long time the 'replicator' which is a molecule that can copy itself is created and this provides stabilization. Dawkins calls this the 'primeval soup'. For the first time and error leads to improvement. When the 'replicator' copies itself wrongly a new type is created and sometimes this new one is stronger and better. There are also times when it is worst and in this case it probably extincts because 'the survival of the fittest' has already began.

The example of what comes out of an error that Dawkins uses is incredible. I never new that such a dumb mistake of translation could create a huge thing that still affects women and has created a judgment for 'good' and 'bad' women. If it weren't because of this mistake virginity wouldn't be such a big deal and the mentality of the women would probably be completely different.

But anyways, the survival of the replicators depended on "the individual molecule lasted a long time, or they replicated rapidly, or they replicated accurately" (page 18). But like the world is not infinite there is a final factor that affected the evolution of the replicator, competition. So Dawkins believed that this lead the replicators to build 'survival machines' and this machines ended up being our body and mind, and the replicators are now our genes.

This is a very satisfying and complete theory of how the world became what it is right now and how we began. I enjoy Dawkins way of writing and the organization of each of his chapters.