In his article God’s Utility Function, Dr. Richard Dawkins brings the Darwinian Theory of natural selection down to a different level. Dr. Dawkins asks the age-old questions “Why are we here? And what is the purpose of life?”. In answer, he presents his theory of natural selection that is more fundamental than the traditional Darwinian view. Instead of looking at life from the perspective of complete individual organisms battling for survival, Dr. Dawkins hypothesizes that everything in life has to do with a battle for survival of the genes that comprise each organism. He claims that the reason for life and everything that happens in it is to ensure the survival of specific DNA.
Dr. Dawkins supports this hypothesis by comparing the cheetah and the gazelle. He notes that the cheetah’s body appears to have been designed specifically to pursue and kill prey, such as gazelles. However, the body structure of the gazelle seems to have been designed to escape predators such as the cheetah. Dr. Dawkins claims that the reason both the predator and the prey seem to have developed in these ways is to ensure the survival of each organism’s genes. The genes in the gazelle cannot reproduce if killed by a
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In traditional Darwinian natural selection, the use of energy on things that beautify seems to be a waste. For instance, why has the male peacock developed their tail plume which, though strikingly beautiful, places them at a disadvantage in perilous situations. If they must escape from danger, the sheer amount of feathers is a hindrance. However, Dr. Dawkins explains that when viewed from the perspective of the genes, the evolution of beautiful things like a peacock’s plume makes total sense. The attraction between different sexes of a species as a result of a characteristic that lends beauty ensures more reproduction of that set of genes than the occasional loss due to that