The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene
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I’m a huge fan of Richard Dawkins, so much so that I recently paid to see him sit in a chair and talk for an hour and a half. Before the event, the audience could submit questions for the Q&A. I asked, “Are there any theories that you’ve confidently espoused that you’ve since walked back from and/or regretted” (obviously sprinkled in ~espoused~ to impress him). My question was chosen, so I felt like an actual celebrity all night. Meanwhile, Devin asked, “Are you really good at Punnett Squares?” We’ll never know!
I read The Selfish Gene last year and loved it. It was innovative, informative, and digestible. The Extended Phenotype is a different story. The afterword notes that The Selfish Gene was written for ‘educated lay readers’ whereas The Extended Phenotype was written for ‘professional biologists’. It goes on to say that Dawkins’ skillful writing is still accessible despite its target audience, but I don’t fully agree with that. Even though I had a good ass question for the Q&A, I’m not a professional biologist and I struggled to understand about half of this book.
Of course, Dawkins is skillful and I really am impressed with his ability to explain complex scientific ideas. He does a great job of expressing concepts in varying language from varying angles so that something resonates. He also uses what he calls ‘harmless anthropomorphisms’ to effectively illustrate scientific nuances in language that we can relate to. I appreciate when he goes into ~biology for dummies~ mode because science is my biggest blind spot in academia. What’s going on with those lil cells that I can’t see?
Selfish Gene was revolutionary because it forced the scientific community to rethink the way we look at evolution. Dawkins argues that we should think about natural selection from the level of the gene rather than individual organisms or groups. Genes seek replication and natural selection favors genes that successfully replicate. Genes have phenotypic effects (observable traits like hair color, height, and behavior), and natural selection will favor the phenotypic effects that flourish in a certain environment. The Extended Phenotype is a sort of sequel to that, taking it a step further to argue that those phenotypic effects aren’t limited to the organism itself. For example, a beaver dam or a parasite manipulating a host body are phenotypic effects that extend beyond the individual. He speculates how this could extend indefinitely.
Because there’s an assumption that you’ve read The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype is inevitably a deeper, more complicated dive. As a result, it’s more over my head. He spends a large chunk of time addressing grievances that other scientists have with his arguments, and while I find it funny that he uses his platform to perform a scholarly shit on his colleagues, he gets into minutiae in order to debunk what he believes to be false. Then he loses me.
At the end of the day, Dawkins is a very smart dude and I’m going to keep reading his stuff. After reading this book, I genuinely learned new things, like the fact that fetuses inherit more genes from the mother than the father because the mother passes on mitochondrial DNA along with nuclear DNA. Flex for moms. I also learned fun animal anecdotes, like how scout bees perform vigorous dance moves when they find a new location that they really like, but they’re competing for who finds the best spot, so the other bees vote on whose dance moves are more enticing. Now you know those two fun facts, so you might not need to read this. I give The Extended Phenotype 3 out of 5 flames. If you’re going to read Dawkins’ evolutionary theory, The Selfish Gene is sufficient.
