The Selfish Gene

We are back in the chaos of Mumbai again and it feels as though we were never away. Construction work is going on everywhere, and traffic jams at every point give me lots of time for meditation. Tall buildings have sprung up in many places and it's hard to believe how quickly change has happened. Property prices have soared so much that I cannot see how future generations of young people will ever be able to buy their own homes. Large popoulations live in faraway suburbs and commute 3-4 hours daily. And another section of people are paying hundreds of millions for small one bedroom homes. The city is is held together and functions because of drivers, policemen, security guards, cooks, maids, taxiwallas, and rickshawallas and the indispensible dabbawallas. The exploitation of one class by another continues. As it has since the times of early Man.

There is still too much poverty. It is hard to stand by and watch. So people have developed an indifference to the scenes that greet them everyday, at railway stations, along railway tracks, near shanty towns that they must pass to get to work. Yet there is an amazing spirit and good naturedness about the working people of Mumbai, who are resigned to the steady degradation of their environment and the daily struggle.

Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene, first published in 1976 makes for good reading even today and provides an insight into the genetic basis of human psychology and social interaction. He explains the genetic roots of selfishness and altruism, of racism and patriotism. He describes Man as "the survival machine", the vehicle used by genes for their own continuity. "A body really is a machine blindly programmed by its selfish genes" (p. 146).

He talks about "evolutionarily stable strategies", designed and programmed into Man for the perpetuation of the species. While genetics to some extent, explains the fundamental differences in outlook and worldviews of men and women, he also recognises the role of culture in shaping behaviour. He goes on to explain the genetic roots of Kamikaze behaviour, cooperation and self-sacrifice, and parasitic organisms. But at the end of it all, there is the recognition that Man is perhaps the only machine that can override genetically programmed instructions.

"One unique feature of man....is his capacity for conscious foresight. Selfish genes...have no foresight. They are unconscious, blind, replicators."

BUT,

"We are built as gene machines and cultured as meme machines, but we have the power to turn agains our creators. We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators."
Much needed insights for survival in Mumbai.