Chapter 10

In Chapter 10, Dawkins talks more on mating and group dynamics. Surviving as a group benefits the individual. Hunting in groups allows each individual to expend less energy on acquiring food. Running in a herd protects the animals in the middle, so taking a chance to be in that safe position is worth it for the individual. When it comes to warning calls, like the kind that birds use to warn others of dangers, it gets a bit more complicated. Dawkins offers to hypothesis to explain these. By warning the group of danger, the bird lessens the risk of others drawing attention to the group. Alternatively, it is safer in a group if the bird choses to escape the danger. In eusocial insects, the colony as a whole is the survival shell. A few insects reproduce, so the rest are expendable for the selfish gene. What might seem like altruism is actually a misrepresentation of what the whole survival machine encompasses. Symbiotic relationships between organisms are not altruistic either because both partners benefit, thereby keeping the gene selfish. They become Evolutionarily Stable Strategies when most of the population does not cheat on either side and each partner is able to recognize each other. What about symbiotic relationships in humans and the feeling that keeps us that way? Dawkins isn’t sure so he left it up to us.