It is not simply a religious complaint either. No one seems to insist that the laws of physics must be immoral for their ability to explain car crashes or better aim artillery. The charge that evolution is ‘immoral’ has existed for at least as long as Darwin’s Origin of Species. People sometimes struggle with the distinction between an explanation for the way nature works and an advocacy for how humans should conduct themselves. No one who has actually read and understood this book would possibly conclude that. This is best exemplified by those who suggest this book is advocating selfish behaviour in a Libertarian or laissez-faire fashion. So many liberties and misunderstandings are taken from this book that you suspect many are deliberate and come from those who never got beyond the title. It is disappointing, but appropriate, that we must begin by discussing what this book is not. That is, if you already possess a mind open enough to face the challenge. Unashamedly confident, yet modest of its own genius while marvelling at the wonders of nature it will force you to stretch your neurons with its intellectual rigor, bend to the weight of its logic and accept its alternative perspective. The Selfish Gene is rightfully a science classic.
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