Can We Change?

What I got from this chapter was that Dawkins tries to explain that there are two ways that animals gain a selfish benefit from warning others. The first one is the ‘cave’ theory and the other one is the ‘never break ranks’ theory.

Dawkins uses birds as an example for both theories. For the cave theory, he says that one bird can warn other birds that there is a hawk approaching. In order to keep them quite and make sure the hawk does not see the bird that noticed him first, through the other birds’ noises.

The second theory ‘never break ranks’ theory is about how birds “manipulate” their flock to do something together so that the one bird who notices the hawk, will not be standing out and at greater risk of being attacked by the hawk. This one is extremely selfish since other birds are at greater risk of being attacked by the hawk than the original bird that saw it first.

Then Dawkins says that over time, birds have formed a ‘singing’ voice. The noise birds make, that sounds like music, is actually a way of warning their flock about danger. He states that this gene has evolved over time and has perfected. This connects back to the two theories he explained. It is known as the ‘selfish gene’ because using this gene has made birds only looks out for themselves.

It seems as if birds are just like humans, “every man for himself”. Obviously, this does not apply to everybody, but there is a big connection between the two animals. At one point or during certain moments in our lives we think how we will be affected by something. People are selfish in different ways, but it is hard to believe that somebody says “I always think about how my actions affect others before I think about how they affect me”.