Gene Selectionism--the Basis of Evolution?

Gene selectionism is a theory positing that natural selection selects genes, not entire organisms. The organism functions as a vehicle for passing on superior genes. George C. Williams is credited with developing the theory, although Richard Dawkins is the idea's great popularizer, mostly via his book The Selfish Gene.

According to naturalistic explanations of origins, a gene evolved from chemical soup in the very beginning. It had two abilities: It could do something akin to eating (acquiring and incorporating new matter) and it could reproduce itself. No one knows exactly how this happened, because genes these days require an elaborate enzyme-based mechanism for reproduction and the enzymes themselves are protein products of genes. Mistakes inevitably were made in duplication, introducing variation in the "offspring." Some offspring were better "eaters" and reproducers, so these were selected for and these genes persisted while others were eventually lost. In time, some genes developed the ability to produce more complex "houses" or "bodies" for themselves, and those that got better at this had an evolutionary advantage. Thus successful genes can produce superior bodies for themselves. This is the basis for all life as we know it.

As an example of reductionism (the philosophy that all things can be taken down, or reduced, to their material bases), this is hard to beat. Dawkins has said that the discovery of DNA and the genetic code "has dealt the final, killing blow to the belief that living material is deeply distinct from nonliving material." In other words, we don't need anything but matter. From this perspective, a human being is nothing more than DNA's way of making more DNA like itself.

But is matter really all that's there? George C. Williams has given the matter (so to speak) another thought. He realized that genes are not solely physical material; they contain information, which is non-material. The gene is a vehicle for passing on information. DNA is the medium but not itself the message. This ends up being a huge idea with a lot of important implications that we will explore further later in this series.