Purpose: True Or False

Because the Selfish Gene is a science book, I decided to ask my science teacher about it. She told me that it was well written, but in order to use it for scientific purposes you had to update many of its hypothesis. As science never stops growing and each second we are thinking of new reasons for everything, I asked myself why Dawkins wrote the book. He mentions, “Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when it first works out the reason for its own existence” (1). This theory would make humans an intelligent species. If we were able to get as far as to know why we exist why try and continue developing. As the author is quick to mention, humans are merely machines made to transport genes. Dawkins might agree with this and maybe that is, but the rest of the population does not seem to agree with him. If his writings are now outdated it means that we continue to grow and that maybe, only maybe, our purpose is greater than what is being suggested. What proved his theory wrong is our simple urge to continue expanding. Returning to my conversation about science I was told he had written a more recent book. I do not have to know what that book is about in order to deduce that he had new ideas and wanted to publish them, which proves my point.

Approaching the end of the fourth chapter I was able to come to a conclusion. The only thing that serves a greater purpose is a gene. If our purpose can be completed by a bus and “The true ‘purpose’ of DNA is to survive, no more and no less” (45), this book is an extra. Humans do not need to now what their purpose is. It really doesn’t matter if we are an intelligent species or not. The truth is, we should enjoy what we have even if it is an illusion. That is what Dawkins is doing. By writing this book, he feels that he is informing the population and making them “intelligent”. He continues to contradict what he is stating with what he is living. I look forward to figuring out what the real purpose of this book is.